The Echo Harp
by Prose Vanity
Summary: Three prodigies, one musical love triangle. "It's what happens when you're a prodigy yourself and you just happened to fall in love with the two most stellar personalities in your music school. Halfway through you'll just want to crawl over and die."
1. Uno: Little Girl

_All descriptions of places here are not accurate and are merely a figment of imagination. Should it match anything or any place, it will be purely coincidental and is truly unintended by the author._

**DISCLAIMER: **Yes!I own Gakuen Alice, along with the Eiffel Tower, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Pyramids of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Empire State Building. So, well…yeah, you get the point.

* * *

**The Echo Harp  
**_Winter Moonlight Sonata_

* * *

Uno** Little Girl**

:|:

I am a hundred and ten percent sure I am dreaming, because how else would you explain a scene picturing a smiling Hotaru, a canary-yellow-headed Misaki, and a flustered Anna holding a tray of what looked like hardened asphalt? There is no way this scene is humanely possible. So, yeah…this must be a dream—or a daydream, at the very least. I look to my right: 6:03. Crap. Even if this is just a dream, there had better be a good reason for why they barged in at this hour.

But still, you don't get a lot of smiling hallucinatory Hotarus or yellow-haired Misakis. I might as well enjoy the moment; after all, it's not everyday you get to see these ostentatious and silly dreams. Maybe I'll see how this turns out to be.

I waited for two minutes, unmoving, aware of the fact that they were gazing at me as well. I watched mutely as Anna placed the plate down on the bedside drawer and followed her every move closely, from the way she walked to how she said, "I'm sorry, I burned the omelet."

Oh. So that was what the asphalt thing was.

After a few more minutes, I became conscious of myself, noticing that the three pairs of multi-hued eyes that were watching me too were practically _skinning_ me alive: Anna's blue ones, Hotaru's amethyst, and Misaki's magenta. _N__ow_ I'm getting freaked out.

"What?" I hear myself say impatiently after Misaki gave Hotaru a conspicuous and anxious flicker of a gaze. They didn't answer; instead they remained intent on staring at me, probably waiting for me to drop dead in this dream. Weird, but I stared back anyway, uncomprehending, wondering what this was all about.

Apparently some of the confusion must have reached my face, because Misaki cleared her throat loudly and Hotaru's firm gaze suddenly moved from my clearly stupid-looking face to some point below me, to something I was probably holding in my hands. Without further ado, I mimicked her actions and looked down as well, and what I saw only intensified my original theory of this being a sheer dream, nothing more, nothing less...

Because there was just _no _way, **no** way I could be holding in between my long, frail fingers two envelopes that said "Letter of Acceptance" from Juilliard's and GASA. There was just no freaking way this could be happening...no way. Getting through to pass a Juilliard's screening program was bad and hard enough and it was most certainly impossible that out of the two-thousand applicants I would be one of twenty passers. There was just no way.

—And _**GASA**_? Hah! I'd have to be dead by the time I get accepted there! The prelims alone were excruciating! Not to mention the teachers! It was just horrible! And now I'm having a letter in my hands saying I passed _both_ school exams? No way. I'm already positive I'm dreaming.

But how I wished I wasn't.

GASA had to be a dream come true to me if truly this were real. It would serve my purpose in life well, and it could make my parents proud, knowing they had been GASA students. They were practically GASA Alumni royalty. If they could only see me now...

And about Juilliard's...I've been dreaming of a pass to Juilliard's for so long now, because I've been yearning to see him...his dark blue eyes, his black, satiny hair...even the tiny birthmark of a star on his left cheek. I miss him so much...

With shaking hands, I removed the letter from GASA first. I knew that those three were watching me (I could also smell the burnt egg omelet) but I didn't care. This was a dream, after all...

Fumbling with the letter and taking a deep breath in preparation for the sour disappointment and hurtful letdown later when I finally woke up—because I knew this was just a dream, though my brain argued with that— I unfolded it:

"_29 May 2009  
Musical Arts Department  
Gakuen Alice School of the Arts_

_Dearest Miss Mikan Sakura:_

_We are very pleased to inform you that you have been granted position here at Gakuen Alice School of the Arts. Your acceptance was brought about by the countless approvals gained by your audition piece from the academy's Application Review Team. We welcome you with open arms and thus shout: Welcome to GASA!_

_Further instructions, details of your classes, and your various requirements for the term are hereby enclosed. Thank you, and looking forward to having you here at the academy._

_Yours truly,  
Professor Narumi."_

I closed the letter warily and shook my head back and forth, willingly—yet unwillingly at the same time—waking myself up from this dream before it gets the chance to turn into a nightmare. The more I brood over it the, more I'll get painfully disappointed, and I wouldn't like that, especially as I also had the letter of acceptance from Juilliard's. No, I don't want to get the feeling that this might not be a dream after all; that would hurt. Nope, no way.

However, no matter how hard I forced myself to wake up, no matter how many times—or how painfully—I pinch myself, I can't seem to wake up, and my hazel eyes found that Hotaru's former smiling face was now back to its usual arrangement: devoid of any expression, and with a hint of irritation. As I watched her—continuously beating my left arm—she smirked at me and faced Misaki and Anna.

"The baka thinks she's dreaming," she said as Misaki laughed and Anna grinned. She turned her mauve eyes then to me and said, with the tiniest hint of a smile lingering on the corners of her thin mouth, words that I'd been fearing yet waiting to hear.

"You're not dreaming." The far right end of her thin lips twitched upwards as I froze in the act of hitting my own forearm. "You're wide awake and you're certainly holding two letters of acceptance from the two most prestigious schools in the whole world. They are _solid_, and so are you."

I shook my head again. Surely...surely this was just some side-effect of my stressful three-week wait for the letters. Surely this dream is just a result of the painstakingly long wait for a reply...this might just be the stress of my situation. Yeah, I'll assure myself with that much. That'll be it—that'll explain this weird dream.

I opened my eyes forcefully, hoping that what I would see now would be everything in my room before I went back to sleep: a book on my right side, the room as green as ever, and I was alone, not holding any letter-shmetter in my hand, and definitely no smiling Hotaru, no blonde Misaki, and most certainly NO Anna with a tray of burnt eggs (because I assume I'll have to eat it—and I will _not_). I hope this is just a horrible dream cooked up by my unconscious to relieve me of the sore feeling of waiting for those damned letters.

Yet all hope vanished as I looked around and saw everything exactly as it was before I closed my eyes, except that Hotaru's arms were crossed in front of her chest and her eyes were now a deadly shade of purple (the kind that shows up when she's really pissed) while her lips were as thin as ever with her eyes flashing, making her look absolutely appalling and hawk-like. When I looked at her in disbelief, she rolled her eyes at me and stared fastidiously, obviously very much annoyed.

"Really an idiot," she whispered, obviously trying to keep it to herself, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. She turned gracefully around and glided towards my oaken double-doors, grabbing the handle before she spoke. "Tell me if she stops acting like the idiot that she is," she said to Misaki and Anna, the former stuffing her fists into her mouth to keep from giggling aloud. Then she rounded on me, looking as if she'd love nothing more that to devour me on the spot for my show of idiocy. "And you,"—she was murderous, but oddly I felt like laughing at her—"tell me which school you'll choose and come back down to the dining area. I'll be there cooking us something that looks more decent than a hard black blob one of us claims to be an _omelet_. After all, unlike you two"—she pointed at the two girls in front of me, one who was now positively quivering with suppressed laughter—"I have more important things to do rather than watch Little Miss Stupid here gawk over her Juilliard's and GASA acceptance letters while truly convincing herself through self-flagellation that she is not dreaming. Goodbye."

And the door snapped shut behind her, leaving an inkling silence that ensued between all three of us.

Only one thought penetrated my hazed mind, and it's the one they've been trying to convince me with: Yep, I am _so_ not dreaming.

I looked after the door, finally won over, knowing full-well that I was really awake and these were real letters, not just hallucinations or fragments of my imagination. I looked around feeling elated, looking for an outlet, and instantly digested Misaki's ridiculous look before finally addressing her.

"What the _bloody_ hell happened to your pink hair?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowed and my eyes squinting to stop from blinding myself with her yellow hair, intensified by the sunlight now rising through my window. "You look like a chicken egg newly hatched." I checked the clock again, and it said half-past seven. So I'd spent nearly an hour and a half acting all dim-witted and ignorant; no wonder Hotaru was impatient.

Misaki scowled at me while Anna was now clutching her stomach from excessive laughter. "Relax," she said, twisting her hair around her fingers and tying it into a messy bun while sending Anna a big glare. I saw some loose threads of dark pink hair. "I accidentally used the yellow colorant on my head this morning when I showered. I mistook it for shampoo and absentmindedly dumped it over my head. I'll be taking it off this afternoon."

Eventually I joined in on Anna's laugh fest.

I was still giggling as I skipped down the hallway into the kitchen (much to Misaki's displeasure and Anna's chagrin), where my nose picked up the first signs of bacon, spam, and eggs.

"Well, glad you're finally your normal stupid self again," Hotaru said as she placed four plates of my four favorite breakfast meals: corned beef, spam, eggs, and bacon. I only smiled and held on tighter at the two letters clutched in my left hand.

"So, where do you want to go?" Misaki asked, her eyes wary and guarded as if hoping I'd choose the right one. I wonder why...

"Well, of course I want to go to Juilliard's!" I said excitedly. I watched as their faces fell at my words. I knew there was something wrong here...but what?

It took them quite a long time to answer my unspoken query, and even then all they managed to say were a few words.

"Fat chance," Hotaru said bleakly, keeping her eyes trailed on her food, primly cutting up the pieces of spam into tiny bite-sized pieces. Anna swallowed hard and Misaki choked on her food.

What the hell was happening?

"Why?" I said, indignant. "What the—what are you guys saying, that I'm not good enough, that I'm not _worthy_ of going to Juilliard's? That I'm—"

"—you're under the age requirement," Hotaru cut across me indifferently. Anna and Misaki shot her anxious and mad glares while I looked crestfallen (as seen from the back of my spoon, upside down). I felt color drain from my face and all the blood slowly rush out of my system. I wasn't going to Juilliard's?

I _can't_ go to Juilliard's?

"No!" I yelled aloud, making the three of them jump. I didn't care; I had been counting on going to Julliard's! I've been counting on seeing him, and besides, it'll be my first ever airplane ride! NO! This is unfair!

"Mikan-chan," said Anna gently, rising from her chair and running over to hug me, "you _are_ the youngest applicant out of the two thousand there, and you passed!"

"But still, Mikan, you're just sixteen," agreed Misaki, her eyes pinned to me affectionately. She got up and hugged me too.

"One year!" I said feebly; disappointment was welling up inside me. "It's just _one freakin' year_!"

It finally hit me that I haven't read the letter from Juilliard's yet. I took out the envelope from my jacket pocket, hands shaking like Parkinson's.

"Read the letter," Hotaru commanded silently, and I unconsciously followed.

"Dear Miss Sakura," I read quietly, tears spilling onto the yellowish paper. "We are p-pleased to congratulate and inform y-you that you have p-passed the J-J-Juilliard's screening program."

It was only then that I realized that the envelope was abnormally thin for an acceptance letter, and contained only one piece of paper, compared with GASA's which was overflowing with prints. I wanted to kick myself for being so hopeful and stupid.

"However, it is our deepest regret to say that you have not passed the age requirement. We do not wish to not accept you, with talents as exemplary as yours, but as is the case, we cannot accept underage students due to security reasons. We apologize heartily, and please know that we truly lament this."

I dropped the letter and felt a certain numbness steal over me—every hope, every chance...all gone.

And as I sobbed uncontrollably, swaying unsteadily, I felt Hotaru add to the arms that were now hugging me...

* * *

"I'm done packing!"

Eventually I got over the initial shock and disappointment that came over me and stole my brain functions, and after I had recovered it was only then that I remembered why I applied to GASA in the first place: because Hotaru, Anna, and Misaki all went to school there. I felt very, _very_, VERY guilty of that little episode and the sulking period of nearly two weeks, knowing that I had been so selfish about the whole ordeal. Not until _he_ called, however, did I even remember that Hotaru, Anna, and Misaki all went there, and the guilt-ridden feeling is definitely hard to shake off. I want to slap myself, but I also do not want to look ridiculous and insane so I don't think that's possible. But if it were, I'd do it. And besides, I only found out from Hotaru a week ago that there was a small compromise—a ray of light or a silver lining, if you may—about the Juilliard's thing: after one year at GASA, I'd get to go. So basically I'm going to be at GASA's just for a few months and then, when I finally turn seventeen, I'll go to Juilliard's. Not a bad deal at all, now that I'm in the right mind for this.

Regarding the airplane trip, well—I found out that going to GASA wasn't easy either. We were a good two-thousand miles away from the blasted place and no car can get there in record speed, especially as today was the start of term, September First.

So now, here we are, about to leave Sendai for Tokyo.

I heard someone's voice float up the stairs.

"Baka," said Hotaru's usual stoic voice. "You should be done _preparing_, not packing; packing was supposed to be done a fortnight ago. We're leaving in twenty minutes and you're still in your pajamas."

Oh. OH!

Damn! I forgot about the part where you were supposed to actually _dress up_ and look pretty before riding the airplane! Crap!

I sprinted towards my room after having yelled at the landing by the top of the stairs. Twenty minutes to prepare; twenty freaking _minutes_ to prepare! Bah...how stupid can I really get?

After rushing through showering and a pile of clothes, I finally found enough sense to come down fully dressed and prepared, dragging my trunk along with me noisily. I noticed that they were no longer convened at the kitchen and so I went to the living room and much to my surprise, there was a new addition to the group.

It was odd seeing him there, with his perfect blonde hair and deep blue eyes, holding a rabbit—he seemed oddly out of place in our old-fashioned Victorian living room. He was truly gorgeous, in the most sincere meaning of the word. His face was genteel, and his aura was...alluring. He was strangely radiant and his _beauty_ was too overpowering. For a second I thought he was a she.

I made my presence known to the room at large with a loud cough.

"Hotaru? Anna? Misaki?"

He flicked his azure gaze at me and smiled, all pearly whites gleaming and _blinding_. Anna giggled and Misaki rolled her eyes. Hotaru remained as indifferent as always.

"Mikan," Hotaru said. "This is Ruka Nogi. Nogi, this is Mikan Sakura."

He walked toward me, dropping his rabbit in the black couch, and assisting me in carrying my luggage. I felt unusually light-headed and my cheeks were suddenly warm. Anna giggled even more. Hotaru looked amused at the least, and I was certain I saw a hint of some sort of practical joke lingering in her eyes.

I got the joke when she mumbled the next few words.

"He's my boyfriend."

I felt my jaw drop two feet underground and watched Anna and Misaki guffaw and Hotaru actually _crack_ a smile. I never knew what happened next.

Only that I was now in a plane riding from Sendai to Tokyo, and Misaki was still chortling about my shock of Hotaru's news.

"Did you see her face?" Misaki said inside the plane, holding her stomach because of excessive laughter. "Oh, good heavens! Her mouth was dropped down and her eyes were round as the galleons in Harry Potter! Ha ha ha!"

I was beginning to get irritated and Ruka sent me an apologetic smile. I smiled back, and he just held onto Hotaru's hand, the latter seeping with indifference.

"—And then when she stuttered about Ruka being Hotaru's boyfriend, hah!"

"Yes, yes," I said impatiently. "But at least I never looked like a person with chicks on my head walking around Sendai markets, forcing everybody to wear sunglasses because of my _hair_."

This seemed to shut her up, but it began another round of laughter from all four of us, Ruka included. It seems like Hotaru told him everything about us all.

In an attempt to lighten up the conversation, I turned to the blonde-headed boy. "So, Ruka-pyon,"—my new-found nickname for him—"what instrument do you play?"

Until now we hadn't discussed anything related to the school, except for those three's vague descriptions of the grounds. From what I've heard, they were huge. The campus, they said, was more like a city that an actual school.

"Me?" Ruka looked startled at being addressed. I beamed at him brightly and nodded. "I play the piano," he said.

A slight realization hit me. "So that's how you met Hotaru?"

He flashed a smug grin and squeezed Hotaru's hand. "Yeah. We met at a piano recital in Dewy Hall. Want to know the story?"

He stole a quick mischievous glance at Hotaru before the latter hit him at the sides. I was too engulfed in school details to beg for more love-dove stories.

"Dewy Hall?"

"The piano hall, so to speak," said Misaki. "Every instrument at GASA has its own practice hall, and every hall has a name—naturally. Pianos are at Dewy Hall, Strings are at Vance, Harps are at Sakura—"

"Oh!"

"—yes, the same as yours and your instrument, and...let's see...I guess that's about it. Vocals and theatre are out of the Musical Arts department."

"You play the harp?" Ruka said, astonished. I can see why; people often mistake the harp as a boring old thing with lots of strings. I think the only time people remember it is when they see a picture of a cherub.

"Yeah," I said proudly, "ever since."

Hotaru snorted. "You can never really tell which instrument she plays. She plays a lot."

"Really?" Ruka was now seriously surprised, and I was seriously embarrassed—they were putting me on the limelight again. This is getting ridiculous.

"Hotaru, stop—"

"Yeah," agreed Anna; well, at least I tried to stop them. I sighed in defeat while Anna just babbled on. "She plays the violin, the piano, the guitar, and the cello. We barely know which her true calling is. But I guess it's the harp."

"Will you guys stop it?" I hissed. Ruka laughed.

"Impressive, very. But don't worry, Mikan-san. I know someone just like you," he said, his eyes glinting with pleasure. Hotaru smirked; Anna and Misaki both exchanged glances.

"Who?" I found myself asking.

"Oh, you'll see," said Ruka, smiling along with Anna and Misaki. "You'll get along very well, knowing you as I now do."

I could only stay silent, and so I looked out the window and listened to their small talk about the school. By the minute I was growing more and more excited.

"So, Misaki, how's your violin?" he suddenly said to Misaki, changing the subject. Misaki grimaced.

"As usual. Octaves and numbers. I really hate Jinno," she grumbled, much to Ruka and Anna's delight. Anna was still chortling when she answered, her blue eyes alight.

"Yeah, Jinno's a freak," she seconded, Ruka nodding in approval. Hotaru had not a care, and I was out of place. "He made me write a concerto back then when I accidentally dropped my bow at the Fundraiser practice."

"Yeah, he can get irritating at times," said Ruka, his blue eyes boring into mine as he addressed me. "You should be careful, Mikan. He's really one hell of a lasher. Everyone hates him, and he hates everyone."

And there goes my excitement. I'm beginning to feel a little uncomfortable about going to GASA. Seemingly enough, I felt my thoughts whirl to a completely different side.

Will I meet anyone there? Will anyone like me? I might become the school nerd for all I know...and then there's the attitude. I need to readjust myself, because this is a new place, a new environment.

There was a lot of getting used to. I hadn't thought of that.

And everything seemed to be turning dark and misty and my eyes were suddenly tired and heavy...

* * *

"Do you think we should wake her up?"

"Of course, Ruka can't carry her, Hotaru'll disagree."

"But she looks so tired! We can't just go and scream at her like that!"

"Back off."

What was going on? I keep hearing these voices...

"SAKURA MIKAN! Get up!"

I jerked awake and crashed down the carpeted floors of the airplane. I was still woozy and groggy; I didn't notice that I fell asleep the entire flight.

"What—we—we're here?" I mumbled, rubbing my back. That crash hurt. Misaki was looking very smug, feigning a yawn. I glared at her.

"You could have just nudged me," I said sourly. "Are we at GASA yet?"

"No. Not yet, Mikan-san," said Ruka, kindly offering his hand to help me get up. What a gentleman; Hotaru is lucky enough to find this impossible Prince Charming. I got up and off the plane, and outside, waiting for us, was a black limo, with the chauffeur waiting for us just at the bottom of the stairs, down the tarmac.

"Welcome to Tokyo," he greeted cheerfully.

This is it, I guess.

* * *

The ride was another fifteen minutes, but it was mainly because of the cheery conversation we had inside the car that took my mind off those petty matters I've been thinking of on the plane. Before I knew it, the driver pulled over, opened our doors, and I was standing so little beside the largest school I have ever beheld.

I stood there, my mouth lopsided and my eyes roving around in their sockets so fast to take in everything. It was huge—and that word isn't even enough to describe. It was _marvelous_, and next to it I felt like a little girl.

The grounds were humongous, and all around there were students already, from all corners of the world, I suppose. They were lying down on the grass, eyeing each other's new haircuts, relishing stories of the vacation. All over were buildings, towering, looming, and colossal, and I simply can't believe that this is now my school, my place.

It seemed that we arrived just in time, me leading the way, them pulling me back in the right direction whenever I went astray. We proceeded inside a beautiful marble-white building, the largest in the campus (or so I've seen so far) and to the pristine counter, where a woman stood waiting for us. She had long, wavy black hair and bright green eyes, hinting orange somewhere near the pupils.

"Ah," she said, a smile gracing her face; she walked forward to meet us halfway through the hall, "Ruka, Hotaru, Anna, Misaki, Mikan!"

I was surprised she knew my name; she spoke like we were long time friends or something of the sort. It was slightly unnerving, but she had a pretty face and I felt compelled to like her.

She each handed us a keycard and a piece of paper. It was our dormitory name, floor level, and room number. Mine read Xavier Hall Dormitory, Level 9, Room number 19.

"Xavier Hall Dorms?" Ruka asked, bewildered. "Saya, have they gone nuts?"

The girl called Saya shook her head. "No, Ruka. They've decided it's time you four got the highest degree. You deserved it."

"Good," said Hotaru. "It's about time."

"What about me?" I piped up. "I'm in Xavier Hall too!"

Everyone who seemed to have heard—Ruka and the others included—froze. I began to feel scared, not knowing why they did so. I bowed my head, embarrassed and irritated with myself.

Suddenly, murmurs began.

"_She's _the new girl? Gosh, she's pretty!"

"Oh, she's The Echo Harp's contender? She looks cute."

"God, look at that face! She's not too desperate to have that sort of thick make-up on, is she?"

Oh, great. Just what I wanted: the limelight.

Saya turned her big green eyes towards me and smiled. "Don't worry Mikan-chan. It's nothing to think about. The rumors and chatters, I mean. But you must know that Xavier Hall Dormitory is the most—shall we say—beautiful dorms here, only for the best."

She winked at me. I assume it was supposed to be an assuring reaction, but instead of feeling lighter, I felt even heavier.

I don't like attention. I'm a klutzy person, and anyone—Bella Swan included—would never agree to have a spotlight on you wherever you went when you would trip every few seconds and fall in a manhole every hour. Just as Bella put it, "No one wants a spotlight when you're likely to fall on your face." Or something like that, anyway.

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping heavily on my big king-sized red bed, only disrupted by the sudden sounding of the intercom system.

"To all students, please proceed to the auditorium immediately."

Anna and Misaki slammed the French double doors open, panting.

"Mikan!" Anna yelled. "Come on! We'll be having the term welcoming!"

I jumped out of bed, not knowing what all the fuss is about. I searched for my shoes, found them under the bed.

"Hurry up! We're running late!" Misaki said, pulling at my arm. And so we ran.

And we ran for about half a century! The grounds were large and the building was too far. Anna kept a firm grip on my hands, just in case I trip, and we raced towards another large building. On its façade, in bold, elegant scripts, were the words GASA Open Auditorium. With us were hordes of students running in the same direction as us; I noticed Hotaru wasn't here and thought of her maybe running with Ruka.

We reached the auditorium—alive, thankfully—and sat down in the seat nearest the stage.

"Where's Hotaru?" I whispered to Misaki; Anna was sitting a row away, chatting animatedly to another blue-eyed girl beside her. She had straight navy-blue hair and a pale face and looked curiously at me when I caught her eye. I watched as Anna whispered in her ear again and her dark blue eyes shone with delight. They began whispering fiercely against each other's ears. I gave her a tentative smiled and she smiled back, Anna waving to me.

"She's there, inside, with Ruka. She's part of the welcoming committee; she'll perform later. Now, shut up Mikan Sakura; it'll start soon."

And just as she said it, the lights went down and all students fell silent, as if a veil was suddenly thrown over my head, stopping all sound and shunning all brightness. I heard the unmistakable rolling of curtains when they were being opened, and surely enough, the spotlight focused on a spot somewhere in the centermost of the stage.

Standing there was a lone figure. He had dirty blonde hair and big, bright brown eyes. He was holding a glass violin—I burned with envy, I'd been dying to have that—and began to play what I knew was a Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 5. Alone.

He looked solemn, with his eyes slowly drifting to a close, and then, three more boys came from behind him, and they were all playing simultaneously now. They were amazing...their prowess was to be compared to none, and they were all so handsome. And they all played so gracefully; what I knew to be an orchestra piece was now being played by four boys—just those four.

One of them was playing the cello. He, like the one performing now, had dirty blonde hair, but his eyes were too tiny, slanted for me to make out the color of his irises. He, too, closed his eyes as his fingers roved forcefully over the neck of the cello. The other one was Ruka, who I recognized by his platinum-blonde hair. His blue eyes were wide open and his fingers were tapping almost effortlessly against the piano. All of them looked comfortable in that stage...no sign of stage fright or what ever it was performers feel before a crowd feat.

But most of all, I noticed the only odd man out of the group, because not only was he the only raven-haired guy amongst all four, but he was also playing the harp. An instrument I never knew possible to be played by anyone. He was also at the center of the group, as if emphasizing the fact that he is the only different one, sort of implying that he's the leader.

I was engrossed in their performance, especially the guy in the harp. He made playing it look so beautiful, so simple, and it caught me by surprise that when he looked at me as if daring me to go and play against him, he had these curious red eyes, that once caught you would be hard to let go.

I was hooked.

They finished with a flourish and stood up, taking a bow. I was still caught in awe, because it was unbelievable and downright impossible that these four boys were human.

Suddenly, out of the blue, I heard my name called by a voice that sounded like Saya's.

"And now, to perform her audition piece 'Swan Lake', please welcome, our newcomer, Miss Mikan Sakura."

The deafening claps and cheers were sounding distant to me. I told her I didn't want any attention, and she should have caught that when she met me this morning at the reception hall. Obviously what I wanted was being ignored.

Saya was now standing beside the stage, calling my name again.

"Miss Mikan Sakura?"

Misaki clapped my back and urged me forward. I was out of breath, and I even tripped as I hastily clambered up the stairs leading to the stage. There stood the same harp he used when they performed, and awkwardly, I sat down and began playing.

I closed my eyes to the sensation, the feeling that nothing can go wrong, and the music flowed easily from my head to my heart to my fingers, strumming the harp and listening to the sound of its melody...

Unknown to me, red eyes were staring directly at me, observing...

* * *

After my performance, the show went on with various performances from the school's dance troupe and choir. Afterwards, dismissal was announced.

I stood up wearily when suddenly, Anna and the blue-haired girl came bounding forward and both were smiling brightly. I smiled back, relieved that she (the blue-haired girl) didn't think of me like a freak.

"So, you're the little girl, huh?" she asked. She was still beaming, and so I saw that her comment had no intentions of any insult. "I'm Nonoko. Nonoko Ogasawara."

"Little girl?" I asked awkwardly. "What?"

She laughed a silvery chime to my ears. "You're the little girl who couldn't make Juilliard's, right? Too bad, but GASA's better than JSA, so it's worth it."

I had no idea how she found out about that, but I liked her all the same. Oh, well. Part of adjustment.

We walked back towards the dormitory. I found that she was Anna's in-school best friend and that she was also an XHD student. So she must be one of the good ones.

Also, I found out—much to my dismay—that rumors all around were circulating, and they were all focused on me.

_So much for staying inconspicuous._

"So, Nonoko-chan," I said while they both giggled over something. They stopped and she raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement of my query. "What instrument do you play?"

She shrugged. "Me? I play the guitar."

"The guitar? You actually _stick_ to those classic Spanish guitar pieces?" I asked. Someone like her had to be a rebel: long blue locks, a short black mini skirt, leather jacket, and baby blue tank top underneath it.

"Well, I like to cross a few lines every now and then." And she winked. Well, that was all I need. I can see she had no intention of sticking to the classics.

I nodded. Suddenly, the memory of those four boys crossed my mind, and before I could stop myself, the question slipped from my tongue.

"Anna, Nonoko, who were those four boys who performed first a while ago?"

Anna giggled and Nonoko smiled. "They're the four greatest music students here at the academy. Until you came, of course."

Well _that_ caught me off guard. Did people really think I was that good? I made a mental note to ask Hotaru about that later.

"They are four boys from four of the richest families in Asia, and they are also the four—"she scowled—"_heartthrobs_ of the school. They're more known as _The Coven_."

I looked up, surprised. "The Coven? Sounds like vampires or bats..."

"Vampires? You're cute. But yeah," said Anna, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "They're the top students, so to speak. The first one on the stage is Kokoro Yome, the other one who looks like him is Kitsuneme—what was his last name again, Nonoko?"

"I don't remember. It was too negligible. Besides, he barely uses his last name. Everybody knows him as Kitsy."

"Yeah, so that. And then Ruka, of course, you know him already—" I nodded; finally, the red-eyed boy. "And then of course, there's Hyuuga."

"Hyuuga?" What a weird name.

"Natsume Hyuuga. He's sort of...the alpha of the pack. He's drop-dead-gorgeous, but he really doesn't take any interest in girls."

I shrugged; I couldn't care less about his love life. "Well, that clears it up. They were unusually good, I can see that."

"He's also called the Echo Harp," said Anna. "He's always been in the background, you know. He sort of echoes the music all around him, form the slight murmurs, to the sound of a nail against a chalkboard. His fingers are also much too dynamic; he can play five to ten notes in one pluck, as long as it can include all his fingers. He's really, really good. But somehow, he's nothing short of cold."

"Of course," Nonoko cut in, giggling slightly. "He never had taken any sort of liking or interest for any other girl...until your performance this afternoon."

" What?" I said, stunned. "What do you mean?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh, come _on_, Mikan. Don't tell me you didn't see?"

"See what? I had my eyes closed the entire performance. If I opened them I might've gotten sick."

She nodded, as if seeing her point. "He was staring at you the whole time you performed."

"What do you mean?"

Before they could answer, however, a gruff, husky voice whispered in my ear, his cool breath fanning my left jaw, sending shivers down my spine. From in front of me, I saw Anna and Nonoko freeze. What the hell?

"So. Here's the little girl."

I turned around and found myself face-to-face with deep, crimson orbs and somehow I felt like I was hurtling through the air. Our noses were barely an inch apart, and he was smirking.

"Who are you?" I bit back frostily. I couldn't see him properly, because to do so would mean looking up, and I'm not sure I want to do that.

Somehow it feels like I'm in an awkward state of danger, and I don't know why.

"You're asking me who I am?" he replied lazily; vaguely I was aware of the amount of attention we were attracting. Even Anna and Nonoko seemed breathless. "I'm the only other person here in this campus who does everything you do."

I knew it then. "So," I whispered, his breath still fanning the lengths of my face. I couldn't seem to move away. Damn—what was wrong with these feet? "You're the echo harp?"

"Probably," he replied. "And you're the little girl, with the polka-dotted...you know."

He was really getting on my nerves, this one.

* * *

_I hope you liked it - it's a really long start. Sixth story. :) It's something like a musical love story. As always. Love you all.  
And tell me if you think this is a ridiculous story, okay? Okay? Ha ha. Not too persistent, am I? Am I? AM I?_  
©_**WMS.**_

_**PS. This has been edited. (:**_


	2. Due: Gentle Soul

Due **Gentle Soul

* * *

**

His wide smirk—almost half an inch away from my face—was one I would happily oblige to wipe off by a hearty SLAP. I still couldn't move because my feet were as stubborn as ever.

"You have no business calling me by the print of my underwear," I said to him, fists clenching in frustration and anger. "May I add—something like that is so immature and unethical and _pathetic_, Hyuuga."

"Talk about immature," he growled playfully to my face. "You're the one wearing baby prints here."

I snorted. "Your boxers might as well have SpongeBob or Dora printed all over it."

Everybody gasped; he just smirked.

"If I were you," he said, tilting his head a bit to one side, his red eyes sparkling with suppressed glee, "I would keep an eye on myself, especially as _someone_ might seem to grow interested on me."

I scowled. "That is, _if _I even decide I want _you_ to be _me. _Honestly, who do you think you are, Hyuuga?"

I hadn't noticed that his friends—The Coven—were there, and at my words, they began to jeer and catcall. There was the one called Kitsuneme, who was guffawing and saying "Found a little tiger, Natsume" and then Ruka, who was smiling lightly at me. I also noticed the Koko guy, who was looking at me, his brown eyes as if X-raying me. I shuddered.

His smirk deepened. "You're wounding my ego, little girl." I felt my teeth grit. Who _did _he really think he was? Damn. "I tell you to be careful of yourself and yet you reject me—rather vehemently, should I say."

"Tch." My voice was thick with irritation. He was such a nuisance. "Really, Hyuuga? Well, judging by the deepened smirk plastered on your face, it doesn't look like you got a serious blow to your ego—which is awfully oversized, possibly even larger than the entire campus. I'm guessing one small hole in it would cripple you alive."

"You speak like you've known me a long time."

"It doesn't take much to figure out you're an arrogant jerk, you know. It's almost written all over your forehead."

I had forgotten that Anna and Nonoko were still behind me, cowering in fright and yet dazed with amazement. I realized that I was still in the awkward position, in the middle of the school grounds, with students gawking at my current predicament; what _had _I gotten myself into?

Finally, to my intense relief, I found that I can now move my feet and immediately took a step backward, allowing more space for me to glare at every piece of his features. Wrong move, though—it just made me all the more awed.

I looked at him and his appearance and very nearly dropped my mouth. He was _divine_; his black hair was gorgeous, and I bet my life it was soft as silk, his eyes—which at first I doubted to be really red (I thought they were contacts)—were really what they seemed to be. The strange shade of deep crimson was the perfect instrument to secure a firm and unbreakable gaze.

And as of now, that unbreakable gaze was fixed unwaveringly at me. Despite all my efforts to pull away from his powerful stare, I seemed glued to it, as if there was some sort of mechanism in it that prevented me from looking away. The harder I tried, the more attached I became, and I knew I was now falling far too deep into those eyes—

—And I saw things…unspoken, strong, and concealed.

As my eyes saw through his, I felt an involuntary twitch in my chest—courtesy of my heart—that momentarily robbed me of my precious breath. It wasn't gentle; it was hard, as if my heart was suddenly being clenched in furious fists. In reflex, I placed my hand loftily on my chest and tried to calm down my suddenly labored breathing, still looking into his ruby red eyes.

I was still gasping for air when I saw it in his face. Somehow, his smirk disappeared like sap sliding off his visage...only to be replaced by what I assumed was a grimace of pain, resulting, most probably, from an inner turmoil, as his body was as postured as ever. For one brief second I wondered if he felt the same twitch, the same reaction, but before I could think of it any further, he suddenly he turned away and all assumptions of that vanished in thin air.

"You jerk, Natsume Hyuuga!" I yelled, shortly after he took two steps forward with a gruff grunt of dismissal. Even as he had moved away, we were still a little _too_ close for comfort; I had never been this close with anybody, except _him_.

"Shut your mouth, you're being scandalous."

He began to move away and I felt myself take hold of his shirt; for a moment I flinched at the slightest contact with the skin on the back of his neck.

"You're not going anywhere," I told him bravely. "You started this, Hyuuga. You end it."

He stopped in his tracks, one hand tucked into his denim's jeans' pocket, the other running through his thick black hair. I was still angry, and I was still fuming at him; I could feel the scowl etched in my face and the hot, bubbling anger bursting to erupt from just beneath my skin. He turned back around, looking at anywhere but me. I did the same; I was afraid the twitching of my heart would come back again. Instead, I focused at an area somewhere above his head, looking—albeit unseeing—at his friends a short distance away. When he spoke, his voice was empty of its previous and pronounced swagger and had the odd sense of controlled and well-chosen words. It was as if he feared something.

"If I were you," he began again, slowly, carefully, _defensively_, as if he were choosing his words through a very strict filter. "I'd take caution of the words I say and the things I do."

And with that he turned away, leaving me to wallow in confusion, wondering...thinking. As if I hadn't had enough to think of today! I huffed, still staring after him, baffled by his words and my heart's sudden reaction a while ago.

Not far, however, he took another last look at me, his brows furrowed and his face arranged in a strange scowl, unlike any other scowl I've seen. It was as if he saw me as a difficult jigsaw puzzle, a code so ridiculously well-written he can't crack it.

It was odd that I thought that, because it was exactly how I felt about him too. Or maybe I'm just being to assuming.

And then I saw his eyes and felt something that made me definitely breathe a little less. A few more seconds and my lung collapsed and I had to look away to recover my breath.

It was an utterly inhumane reaction that I never could possibly understand.

I felt a strange tugging at my left sleeve; my green sun dress, reaching up to my knees, were swaying along with the light breeze, in tune with his black hair from afar, now slowly disappearing from my line of sight. He rounded to the corner and disappeared.

I didn't notice that Anna and Nonoko had already led me back to the dormitories, nor did I notice that activities for the day were already over; I was too distracted, my confusion hazing my already-misty mind. I already had a huge, bulky load of homework to do, and that alone was enough to mystify me, but the strange happenings this morning still took the best of me and veered my mind off to its course unwillingly.

"Mikan?" I heard Nonoko say. Her voice was distant and strangely echoed; my mind was still full of his last words. I looked ahead, not seeing anything, trapped in the strange crimson world I was suddenly in.

"_I'd take caution of the words I say and the things I do__."_

What was that supposed to mean? Did he really feel…what I just felt? Was he…was he—?

I can't even think of it. Now I fear that I might actually be—be f—oh, never mind!

Just great—first day at school and I'm already off the right lane and careening off into the world of an empty, hollow space. Drat.

* * *

After the little incident, school wasn't so bad. For the next two days, he at least never showed his face. Or we never crossed paths, which is a good thing. The downside, however, is that everyone seemed to have caught wind of my little spat with Hyuuga Almighty, and so in addition to me being known as the Little Girl, I was now also widely renowned as the first girl _ever_ to have taken his stupid attention—which I don't want, by the way—and stand up to his _Holey-_ness like that.

I say 'Holey' because he _is_ holey; there was just too much of his character that I couldn't make out. Every time I think of him, the curiosity and confusion just increases in size, so that by now I have a mountain of questions I'd been itching to ask him about, and a small mound of blanks I needed to be filled in; but my pride just won't let me.

So in vain attempts to actually understand him, I forced my pride aside and asked at Thursday lunch in the gigantic cafeteria.

Anna and Nonoko were both gossiping over who-knows-what again and Hotaru was out, probably running around with Ruka in her committee office, and so I had no other option left other than Misaki, who finally thought of sticking with her original pink hair. She was mulling over eating a pizza slice, calculating—and I knew it for a fact—how many calories it'll add to her system. She shrugged, and ate the pizza with much enthusiasm. I giggled, and when I spoke, it had what I felt was an air of indifference, looking ahead of me at the table crowded by four guys, all their backs to me.

"Tell me, what _is_ The Coven?"

She froze in the act of taking a bite off the pizza slice; I contented myself with playing around, poking the pie wherever my fork dropped. My eyes were trailed at a spot far off, where it was eyeing a certain black-haired boy stand up and throw his food in the trash. He looked around and caught me staring; I hastily slammed my eyes to the pie that was now looking a lot like Swiss cheese, with the number of holes I'd furiously carved out using my utensil.

Misaki followed my gaze and fell upon his figure leaning by the cafeteria door. She smirked. Apparently my _air of indifference_ act did not kick in, and she was not convinced.

"_Sooo_," she said, nibbling around the crust of her pizza, her eyes glinting with malice. "Little Girl _is _interested in the Echo Harp."

"Oh, shut it Misaki," I said, stabbing the pie none too gently. "I'm just curious. What makes them so different?"

She seemed to have decided that I was asking her just because, and no other reason was needed. She put down her pizza and drank the **Coke®Lite™** in front of her before speaking up.

"Okay, first of all, Mikan, they are the four _richest_ boys in this campus. That alone is enough to make every person go gaga over them; Kitsuneme is notorious for having spoiled all his former girlfriends and Ruka is always lavishly showering Hotaru with various whatsits, although she really doesn't need it all. The heavenly surmise of people, who wish they were in some way close to those four, is so strong that none here can compete with the gallons of saliva they milk from girls who swoon at them at all times when they were in fifty-meter radius.

"Second, you should have noticed that they're all _drop-dead gorgeous—_even you, Mikan, cannot deny that. Just—hell, look at their _hairs_! Those are locks any girl would kill, and yet they look so manly on them, even the boys are jealous. And also, the eyes: Ruka's blue eyes are just so…deep, Koko's brown ones are so mysterious, and even Kitsy's green ones, which you'd be very lucky if you catch a glimpse of it, are hypnotizing. And of course, there's Natsume's red eyes. I don't even know how to describe it.

"Third, their musical prowess is too staggering to even be humanely possible." She had abandoned her pizza and my Swiss-cheese pie and we took off for our class, Anna and Nonoko having left before us for the school concert hall, where they were having a practical master class, with Tchaikovsky's great-great-great-great-_great _granddaughter teaching them. "Koko is a violin prodigy, what you heard back there at the auditorium doesn't even reach the first notch in Koko's ability ruler. Kitsy, the cellist, could go miles with the rate his fingers go, and Ruka—he surpasses all pianists, excluding Hotaru."

I noticed she skipped Natsume; I pushed her into spilling everything. "What about Natsume?"

"Aha!" Misaki yelled triumphantly, as if she caught me doing something out-of-the-ordinary and forbidden. I realized that she skipped Natsume on purpose to see if I cared. We were now climbing the steps towards her class, at Vance Hall. Mine, Sakura Hall, was just behind the building. We were having Octaves today. "So you _are_ interested in him!"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Well, yes, I _am_ interested, but not in the way you seem to mean it. Not in the way people see it." Because I just felt bound to him and his mysterious façade; it was just my natural curiosity that's causing all of this, and not because I'm in love with him or something that goes with that. "Just answer the question," I said huffily, readjusting my orange backpack. Her pink eyes stared lopsidedly at me, and I had no choice but to laugh. "Come on, Misaki. What about him?"

We were nearing her classroom. Oh, she had better answer my question or else.

"Well, Natsume is the most gifted one," she said slowly, as if picking out the words very well so as to do him justice. "Remember what Ruka said back on the plane last Monday?"

I thought hard, and remembered. It was just after the three girls told him that I played five instruments in total… and then I said something and he replied with a slight smile…

_I know someone just like you_.

"Yeah," I said to Misaki, lightly nodding my head as we walked up a flight of stairs; man, this place is really huge.

"Well, that's what he is." She spoke again as if choosing her words from a wide array, making sure that what she said was right, fitting. "He plays the guitars, the piano, the cello, violin, and occasionally, when he feels like— goofing around—he plays the triangle. But his one and true love is the harp."

This popped another question in my head, relating to his notorious nickname. "Why is he called the _Echo Harp_?"

She smiled. "Well, it's because he's always preferred the backseat. Admittedly, in his other fields of expertise, he's the top one. He always performs during School Festival, and he's always the highlight, but during orchestra performances, he's always just at the back of the group, echoing everything that he hears. He doesn't follow the arrangement of a piece, because he plays from the heart. Most teachers call him 'preposterous' when he plays because he doesn't follow them and their rules, but the truth is, they just envy the fact that he's really better than most—probably all—of the faculty. He's widely known as this musical god, but somehow, people fear him; everyone, in fact. He's greatest notoriety lies maybe in his being an unsocial person; he avoids fan girls and does not date. He's known to ignore everyone."

She looked thoughtful as she said those words, but before I could throw her another question, she put a mindful finger on her chin and quickly added, "Everyone except you, of course."

"What?" I said. We were now standing outside her classroom door with twenty minutes till start of afternoon classes. Everyone except _me?_ What made me so different?

"Oh, Mikan, don't tell me you don't see it?" she said, sighing resignedly.

"Me? See what? I don't get it…"

"Mikan," she said exasperatedly. "No one has ever managed to steal Natsume's attention until you came. No one has ever called him 'Hyuuga' until _you_ came. No one has ever had as many talents as him in this school, until _you_ came. And no one has ever made Natsume stop in his tracks while playing the harp, except _you_. Imagine what people will say once the find out that you sing too. I bet they'll go ballistic."

I was rendered speechless; did I really appear that different? Different enough to catch the school's most cold-hearted guy's heart?

"Point is, you _do_ have to watch yourself; Hyuuga's kinda after you, and most of the time he gets what he wants and well…that's that."

She turned away and bade me goodbye and I headed along the corridors towards the building up ahead, my mind—which was already up to its fullest extent, nearing eruption point—was even more filled with things to think about that I didn't notice the time.

Imagine my surprise when I heard the bell ring and I was still meters away from the school building and five floors down from my classroom.

I checked my schedule again, and I could have died—because I was set for Jinno's class.

Pushing every other thought out my mind, I ran and ran towards the destination, determined not to fail my first impressions with this monster of a teacher; this was, after all, my first meeting with him.

I should have known that running could do me no good, being the klutz that I am. But I realized that a little too late, and I didn't get the chance to slow down before it happened.

I wasn't looking at where I was running to when I tripped over a fissure in the cement. I rolled over and over and scraped my left knee and my chin before halting in front of what looked like expensive Nike shoes.

"Ow," I groaned, face down on the gravelly road. My jeans were torn and my t-shirt was spattered with blood dripping my chin and head; looks like I cut it open as well. I have got to remember buying a manual scooter to avoid these clumsy issues. But then again, that might not be a good idea.

Oh, great. Now I wasn't going to make it to Jinno's class. Damn.

I tried sitting up, but the cut in my knee was so bad that it hurt with every feeble stir. I couldn't move my feet, my hands were cut, and my head was spinning—oh, joy.

Suddenly, I saw the Nike shoes shift hurriedly and felt vice-like arms lift me off the ground. My head was spinning to fast to even recognize, and I just felt heaviness press over my eyes, limping my body and dragging it down…until all was black and dark and scary.

* * *

My head felt light and tender underneath what seemed to be a turban; a second later I realized it was bandaging.

"Are you alright?" asked a low, sound voice. I peered from under the small gap the turban left and saw from it dirty blonde locks and a concerned pair of dark brown eyes. I couldn't recognize him, and when I tried to walk away, he fiercely pushed me back to bed.

"Stay there and lie still," he ordered, his voice crisp and stern. "You trip and land twenty feet from where you jerked you foot, you scrape your knees, break your tibia, and cut your head. I am _not_ making you go anywhere right now. Not at least until you're better and you can look at me with straight eyes, not crossed ones."

It was strange, hearing a voice as fretful as his, and I was momentarily caught off guard. After his words I noticed that my left foot indeed felt heavy, and squinting again I saw that a heavy cast was put on it. I tried to remember the events that led to this accident and finally it came to me.

Unfortunately, the reason why I had been running that fast _also_ came to me, and I sat up so fast that I nearly fell off the white linen bed. I heard a dark snarl from somewhere to my right and I saw his arms lightly pulling me back to bed again.

"I _told_ you," he said, his voice still hard. "Don't move. How stubborn are you, really?"

"A little more than completely necessary," I said, my voice a faint murmur. "But—Jin-Jin's class, I can't miss it—"

He chortled. I whirled around to face him and felt my head throb because of the sudden movement. "What are you laughing about?" I demanded. He laughed even more.

"You challenge cold-blooded Natsume on the first day you ever stepped foot here at this academy. And now, _Jinno_? You barely know him yet and still, here you are, in casts and turbans and bandages, calling the most terror-causing teacher here at GASA by a nickname I haven't even heard of. And a funny one, at that," he smiled. "_Jin-Jin_, seriously."

I smiled, mustering more than just a grimace of pain, and my vision suddenly began to clear up. I now saw clearly the moderately long dirty blonde tresses, the bright and sparkling brown eyes, and the cool and collected and handsome face. I felt myself drawn to this guy, no matter who he was—he was someone like Ruka, only more playful, because he had a weird goofy smile on his face that made him all the more cheerful, all the more inviting. He seemed as if he really _wanted_ me in. And I, stupidly enough, was drawn.

He smiled again, and this time, he placed a long white finger on the tip of my nose. "No wonder people like you; you're funny," he said.

I smiled again, this time bright and beaming. I scrunched up my face against the contact his finger made with my skin, but only because I enjoyed it and it was tickling me. He smiled again and ducked his head.

"I'm Koko."

I froze. "You're the one who stared and glared at me yesterday; why the sudden change of heart?"

He laughed again. "Don't worry; I'm not Natsume. I only looked at you like that back then because I was interested."

I breathed out, and for the umpteenth time, he laughed. God, he laughs so much I felt like joining in.

"We'll be friends," his low voice said, his brown eyes boring into my similarly shaded ones. He stood up.

"Don't leave," I managed to croak out, my eyes suddenly closing involuntarily, as if his presence kept it open. I heard his footsteps come closer and his weight on the left side of my bed this time. He said in a hushed voice, "I won't."

I closed my eyes again, this time, more firmly.

But vaguely, I thought I heard his voice say something like, "I know we'll be friends; perhaps even more than that."

But I drifted off to sleep, and all memories vanished.

* * *

_Edited. (:  
~Ash. _


	3. Tre: Interrogations

**Ashy-note **If I'm to be completely honest, I fell in love with Koko as I was writing this chapter, which may reasonably take _all_ credit for the increasing Koko-love I've been feeling lately. :D And yeah, as of the moment Natsume is at the back of my head, and Koko is the star of my love life. (Fan-girl drama; don't worry, I'll get over it soon.) I'm apologizing in advance for the Koko-love that this chapter has, but Mikan has yet to know Natsume and besides, Natsume is a completely different force of nature himself, and—yes, I'm in love with Koko, and it shows in this chapter. Also, don't kill me for the lack of NxM, because NxM will come in later chapters (maybe Chapter 4, i don't really know yet) and this is going to be a love-triangle story, so I need to present all side of the pyramid first, right? Right.

HAHA—well, then: Enjoy!

* * *

Tre **Interrogations**

When I woke up, I found I was still at the school infirmary.

I couldn't remember for how long exactly I had been here, but the first thing I noticed was how a soft hand seemed to have taken hold of mine. Looking to my right I saw his messy brown hair and beside me, nestled on the edge of the bedside drawer, was a wooden violin—his, presumably. The case was right beside it. The clock on top of the drawer blared out in bright green LEDs the time: 9:45. It was nighttime; I knew because the window let in the light of the moon, bathing everything in immaculate shades of dark blues and silvery-whites.

Night had fallen, and yet here he was, with me still. I guess he didn't leave, which meant he kept his promises.

Involuntarily I smiled as I watched him deeply asleep. I couldn't help but feel at ease, looking at him doze off so serenely. It seemed he was genuinely nice, and just like our last conversation, I felt drawn in.

I looked at the hand holding mine and it felt just so _comfortable_ having it there. I'd never held any boy's hand (let alone an hour-long friend's) but it was so nice having it holding me, and so when I felt a single itch somewhere by my forehead I immediately raised my left hand, too quickly for my own good, to try and scratch it.

I forgot that I had casts on my arm. Concrete, rock-hard casts. From upper limb to knuckles.

So when the cement came in contact with my bandaged head, two separate pains surged through my being and I flailed my arms as I sat up, hitting the clock beside me sending a resounding crash to reverberate throughout the room. Added to the din was my sudden squeak of pain, all of which startled Koko awake.

"Mikan!" he said at once, rising from sleep and leaning over me and catching my back as I fell back to bed. "Mikan, what happened?" he asked feverishly. He promptly froze when he saw something in my head and gently laid me back down.

"Aya?" he called out softly in the darkness.

When no one responded, he fixed me a stern gaze and said firmly, "You—don't _move_. Don't do enough damage to yourself as it already is, please?" Then he went through a door somewhere to my left and disappeared, leaving me alone with my hurting, fractured, casted arm.

As I waited, wondering where the hell he had gone to, I felt a sharp stab of pain in my left temple, and out of sheer reflex I immediately slammed — again — my arm against my throbbing head. I squeaked, and as if on cue Koko came in with a nurse he seemed to have coaxed out of sleep (judging by the sleepy droop of her eyes).

I groaned, peeved at my sheer stupidity, and almost smacked my forehead with my left arm again had Koko not stopped me in the nick of time.

"I _told_ you to be careful," he said, holding on precariously to my stone arm. I suddenly registered the smell of blood and came to the notion that my head was practically bleeding open again. The large roll of medical gauze further proved my idea.

"Are you seriously this careless?" Koko asked exasperatedly while Aya removed my turban. "First day of school and you trip, break two of your four limbs, crack your head open, and land in the infirmary…could you be anymore of a danger to yourself, Sakura?"

I laughed a little, staying still as the nurse wiped my head wound with wet cotton.

"And you're still laughing after all that?" he remarked, laughing along. It was there again—that infectious little laugh he had. My head bobbed slightly, chuckling along with him.

The nurse, it seemed, was the only one who wasn't amused.

"Miss Sakura, stay still."

So we sobered up and I turned my eyes to meet Koko's, who smirked. "I'm sorry," I told him. "I really _am_ too clumsy for my own good, I know."

He chuckled, and then I noticed he was no longer holding my arm—he was holding my _hand_. Somehow I really _like_ the feeling of having it holding mine (have I said that before?) and not taking it seriously, I left it there. Somehow his holding my hand seemed to lessen the pain in both my arm and head.

Once the nurse had left, he removed his hand from mine and moved around my bed to sit on my left side, leaving the moon to shine his spotlight on me.

"So, now that you're awake and alive and alert and enthusiastic and under the makeshift limelight," he began, propping his chin on the edge of the high hospital bed and raising an eyebrow. He looked positively _adorable_! "Where are we to begin?"

_My_ eyebrows rose at _his_ statement. "Begin?"

"Yeah, begin. Like, you know, proper introductions," he said, grinning as he kept on looking at me with his terribly cute face. "We never really got round to having formal introductions, seeing as our first meet was a—"

"—I know, I know, a fight with Hyuuga," I supplied irritably, rolling my eyes at him as the memory replayed. He chuckled again, his tawny eyes never leaving my face.

"To put it simply, yes, it was a fight with Natsume," he said, nodding his tilted head. "And then the second time you trip and almost kill yourself. Although I would rather say it was because you saw me and fell head over heels for me, but of course I don't want to make impressions like that on you now. So I'll save that remark for later."

I laughed. "Hah! Impressions' done with, Sly Guy," I said to him. "I already think you're a big, bloat-headed, gloating jerk."

He smiled still, and I know he got my joke. He retorted by saying, "Two left feet."

"Don't remind me," I said, closing my eyes and trying not to remember what happened. "I already have four physical injuries and one big blow to my ego and they're big enough reminders, so thank but no, thanks, Koko. I really don't need that memo of yours."

Again, he chuckled, his eyes bright and alive. He laughs too much, and I smile back at him in amusement. "Okay, then," he said, placing his arms on the bed and propping his head upon them this time. "You start."

I put a finger to my chin and thought.

"Well, for starters, I'm Mikan Sakura, sixteen, and I love music," I blurted out, trying to organize my thoughts.

Koko grunted.

I looked at him questioningly. "What?"

"I could have figured out _that_ much for myself, frankly," he said sheepishly; his eyes were hinting clearly at extreme amusement that I didn't really get. "You see, even before you arrived, you were already the talk of the town."

I groaned. So that's the amusement right there. Great. Basically I was already under the spotlight even before I came. Wee. Yippee. Woo-hoo.

Not.

"And seeing as this is a music school," he continued, "well, it's quite a given that you love music, otherwise you wouldn't even be here. This kind of music isn't exactly the right career path for those without enough passion. Seriously, that statement would have to be a big 'duh' because, as I told you, it's a given."

The thoughtful finger never left my chin as I nodded in agreement. Slowly, I shifted my body to a more comfortable position, facing him, and hugged my pillow, muffling my speech.

"My head's a little shaken," I mumbled—he laughed slightly at my lame joke —and asked him, "so what do you want to know?"

He shrugged, still painfully cute. "Oh, you tell me," he said jovially.

_Why_ does he have to be so adorable?

"Hmm…"

"Go on," he urged me.

"Well, I was orphaned—" I said thoughtfully, fiddling my fingers; I was sitting up in bed so I could clearly see his face and get my thoughts to fix themselves "—at the age of two. Or at least that's what I know. And all my life I've lived under the Imais. Eventually I came to know them as my real family, and Hotaru became my sister and best friend.

"When I was three Hotaru, who was five, got a piano for my birthday. I could only remember playing with the keys when she wasn't around — she was so possessive of her things — but in time I learned, and I had no idea how I did it, but I did." I broad smile flashed across my face to his.

"In time Mr. and Mrs. Imai decided to send us both to music classes. The Imais were a very able family, and they sent us to Sendai to study there. We went to school there, and after classes we'd get to a music conservatory not far from home every afternoon. We've —that is to say, Hotaru and I— lived alone ever since.

"I _kind of_ got bored faster than Hotaru with the piano and later I decided to switch instruments and then I discovered the violin." I gestured to the instrument beside me. Koko beamed. "I learned it with pure ease, and then I found the rest of my learned instruments—cello, viola, harmonicas, guitar. I even took some time off and did a little singing…but none of them held my attention for long. They all seemed to bore me. That was when I found the harp and fell in love with it. I played it ever since, although I never forgot about the others."

Koko chuckled. "I know someone just like you," he said, amber eyes boring deep into my similarly-colored ones.

The familiarity of his words hit me and in an instant I rolled my eyes. I knew who _that_ one was.

"Hyuuga," I simply said, scoffing at the name.

Koko laughed lightly again. "You are so not over it yet," he said. He raised his eyes and looked at me after he finished his chortling. I was still looking grumpy. "I was actually going to say you reminded my of myself."

My eyes widened and I said, "You?"

"Yep," he said. "Me."

I recovered. "Well that clears it up," I said snappily, smiling hugely at him. "It's your turn!"

"Not so fast, Tiger!" He cut in. "You're not yet done, you know."

"Huh? What—why?" He sat up and stayed silent for sometime, as though steeling himself to say something. He turned his head away and for a moment I thought I saw the back of his pale neck color up. When he turned back at me he had a shy smile on his face. "Any…man?"

That question caught me way off-guard. Wait, no. It threw my soul out of my body and into the Atlantic Ocean thousands of miles away.

He blushed. I roared with laughter.

"Isn't that like a _girl's_ question, Koko?" I managed to say over my fit of giggles. He blushed even harder and I laughed even more, but not before I heard him mumble, "Why did I even have to _ask_ that?"

After I had gotten over my initial surprise and amusement at his off-character question, I looked at him, thinking how best to answer his question. The sudden absence of the sounds of my mirth seemed to have told him that it was safe to look back up again, so when he did, hazel met amber and my cheeks grew hot.

Surely, _surely_ he wouldn't notice that I'm blushing!

"You're blushing," he said serenely, touching the tip of my nose playfully.

I frowned. Surely he _would_.

Instead of dawdling on the topic of my blushing, I answered his question with another one of my own.

"What do you mean?" I asked, cocking my head to one side. "Romantically or not?"

He seemed to have given it some thought before finally replying with an unhelpful "Either way."

I grinned for what felt like the umpteenth time that night. My eyes flicked over to the clock: half-past eleven. It's gonna be a long night, then…

"Go on," he said, nudging my thigh gently with a finger. I obliged, but not before smiling again. For what reason, I do not know.

I started awkwardly; I didn't know how to talk about this, particularly not to a guy who I think I like. "Well, there's this guy…he's been with me ever since I was six. He's four years older than me, and I guess it's safe enough to say he's very handsome."

His face was point-blank smooth. I giggled. "Jealous?"

He came back to Earth and smiled. "Not even close—or maybe," he jested. "Go on."

"Admit it; you're jealous," he smiled to indicate that he wasn't entertaining my feeble attempts at joking so I just complied. "He's been with me for eight years. He was _my_ kind of guy, you know. He'd walk me and Hotaru home everyday since we both went to the same music conservatory. He plays the cello…

"I really loved him," I said with some sort of tone of finality; Koko's face was unreadable, and I was unable to tear my eyes from his gaze. "But you know…things change…."

"Why?" he asked after a small period of silence. He was looking at me through furrowed eyebrows, amber eyes lacking the shine I'd become accustomed to for the past hours.

I heaved a sigh. "Because he had to move to Juilliards. I was fourteen."

Koko looked thoughtful. "So that's why you were so disappointed at first," he mumbled.

Momentarily stunned by this sudden pronouncement, I blinked twice before asking. "How did _you _know?"

Koko looked a little shocked himself but answered my question all the same. "Ruka has been going on about it for sometime now. He said Hotaru's been worrying because you weren't going to see him again."

I only nodded. "Well, of course it's rather hard to be separated from a person who felt like a brother to you."

At this Koko's face lightened up; I had a sudden notion that a huge chance had been given to him at those words.

He looked at me, deep in thought. I waited silently, looking out the window away from him, watching trees sway to the light post-summer breeze. I felt the moon's light on my skin and basked in it, closing my eyes and breathing in the air.

When he spoke, his tone was sincerely curious.

"What do you look for in a guy?"

Slowly I turned my head to face him, tearing my gaze away from the pretty floating leaves, and smiled a blinding smile at him yet again. Suddenly I laughed—I knew _just _the answer for _that_ question.

It was pretty much hands-down. I wanted someone like him, who always seemed to manage to put on a smile on my face and contaminate me with these happy, cart wheeling bugs of Joviality.

"What?" he asked defensively, confusion quickly replacing the earlier look of relaxed calm on his face.

I stopped laughing. "Do you really want to know?"

"Of course," he said, rolling his eyes a little, "hence the _question_."

I closed my eyes and felt a wave of lethargy wash over me…and then I yawned.

"I want someone like you, Koko," I said absentmindedly, the same tired feeling suddenly coming at me like a wave. It felt like my body was ten times heavier than normal, and everything seemed so far away…

Vaguely I heard a small chuckle, which sounded more and more distant, as if leaving.

"Koko…" I heard myself say. My half-closed eyes saw the shadow of a wide smile of his face while my good hand searched for his.

"I'm here," he replied, taking my hand but letting go quickly. "No," I mumbled, "don't go…"

"I won't." Faintly I heard the sounds of scuffling.

And then I heard the soft sound of a violin, lulling me to sleep…

Faintly I thought to myself I could actually fall in love with this boy.

* * *

_Surely you get why I fell in love with Koko, right?_

_~Ash. (:_


	4. Quattro: What Comes Between

**I'M SORRY GUYS! A disastrous stupidity of mine which had originally planned exporting this story to  
my Document Manager led to a similarly disastrous stupidity  
of my deleting the chapter.**

**I apologize for the false alarm; there are no changes to this chapter whatsoever, just my  
pure and utter stupidity. (:**

* * *

**Ashy-note** I would be happy for a review! This one's probably a long one so brace yourselves.

Just a few pointers, in case you get lost: term started on a Monday, which means she tripped on a Tuesday. She stayed in the infirmary until Thursday, which means the next few scenes take place on a Thursday afternoon and a Friday. I'll be posting Mikan's schedule soon so no need to worry, but just throwing it out there so no one gets confused.

Warning: Short and sweet _KoMi_ fluff, and a big-time but extremely short _NaMi_ scene, which may be cliché, but I don't give a damn. (:

-:|:-

Quattro **Tornados, Volcanoes, and What Comes Between**

* * *

I had to stay in the clinic for two more days; that's two Jin-jin meetings missed right there. Koko had insisted that I don't leave the infirmary until I was certain I could walk alone without any more self-inflicted injuries (and Aya was rather taken with him, so she followed his orders strictly and annoyingly too much in my opinion), but after that fateful night of questions and answers, I never saw him again. Aya said it was because Koko had classes, too, and that I should even be thankful he gave up an entire day of school just to sit beside me (and more stupid things, really, that I didn't bother listening to simply because she's an annoying twit who's obviously head over heels for _Koko-kun_, gah!). It was quite sad, but I felt better most of the time because my three girls always came round with food.

Still, I had no choice but to sink in the feeling of unfairness—we never got to talk about him.

So now I was stuck with myself and my thoughts, walking over to Xavier Hall Dorms and having to endure countless of stares. Just like the last time.

_Why_ did I even have to wait until dismissal to go back to my room? Kami, I must really be stupid.

Or just hopeful Koko would come visit me again…

Grumble, grumble, grumble and what not. That was all I could do. I pushed open the door to my room and entered, but my wits fled away from me at the surprising (but not unwelcome) sight on my sofa.

It was Koko himself.

"Surprised, aren't you?"

I couldn't help but smile, watching him smiling at me, too. "Damn right I am," I said to him. I dropped my bag and ran over to him, planning to throttle his neck, but that part didn't quite work well…

Just as I almost had my hands around his neck he turned around so that now I was facing him, pinned by his arms to the sofa, lost in his intense gaze, feeling woozy all the while, with his face sheer inches from mine.

His eyes were devoid of any malice of whichever sort—he was just amused. That's all.

He grinned at me, something I enthusiastically returned. Fixing my position on the sofa I blurted out my question. "How on earth did you get inside my room?"

He smiled. "There is still quite a lot that you don't know about me, Mikan."

"Huh, yeah, figures, seeing as we never got to talk about you."

The smile never left his face. "Got some news for you."

"Good or bad?"

"I'm afraid it would have to be one of both," he said mockingly. "So which do you want to hear first?"

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the back of the sofa. Groaning, I put my hand over my eyes. "I'd rather hear the good one first."

"Oh?" He looked slightly surprised. "Why?"

"Because it would be nice to have a silver lining to think about when you've pronounced the deathly news." He chuckled and my eyes snapped open. "Why?"

His brown eyes sparkled. "Because normal people would have wanted to hear the bad one first."

"So you're saying I'm not normal?"

"No."

I glared at him but he only shrugged away the threat. "Don't glare; it doesn't scare me, it actually makes you look like a puppy dog."

I rolled my eyes at him and eyed the big bed grumpily. "Just get on with it, Koko."

He laughed and then produced my sheet music from nowhere. "Good news: I've found this—" he raised the sheets in front of me; how the _hell_? "—and this is good news because it means you won't have any problems about the bad news."

"And what is the bad news?" This is not good… anything that involves my compositions don't _mean_ good.

"Bad news is Jinno's gonna kill you come Friday."

_Whaaaat? _"Kill? What kill?"

"Well, you weren't around during the first two meetings so basically it means you're a goner. Jinno's that strict," he dropped the sheet on the sofa and stared up. I snatched them and stuffed them into my school bag on the table beside me. "He's planning to get you to do a full-blown concerto."

A full-blown—he _what? _"A full-blown concerto? A concerto in more than five movements?"

"Yes, but that doesn't seem much of a problem now, does it?" He asked slyly, pointing to the baggage I held in my hands where the sheets were contained. I slapped his finger away and chucked my bag in his face, then looked at the king-sized cot that swam before my eyes, looking so warm and fluffy and inviting. I left the sofa to him and I plopped down on it instead, moaning and murmuring in sheer annoyance.

Hadn't I had _enough_ attention already? It was enough that I fought with Hyuuga and that I cracked my head open, wasn't it? This is too much drama! And I'm not even in Gossip Girl or 90210! At least those two shows are a little more pragmatic.

I felt him sit by the edge of the mattress but before I could even think of anything else, Koko took strong hold of my feet and pulled me roughly off the bed quite as easily as if I were made of nothing but foam. The bed had silk sheets, which meant I effortlessly slid off it, and with a screech I landed flat on my face—

—On top of Koko.

His smile was plastered on his handsome face again that even though I completely knew this was such an awkward position, I couldn't help but smile back. And then he laughed that same old infectious garbled little laugh of his and as always, I could not keep myself from doing the same thing.

How was it that this boy could have gone so easily under my skin? It was like we were best friends, for crying out loud, and I thought he was such an annoying jerk at first! _And_ he's one of Natsume Hyuuga's best friends! Just the thought of that last thing… it was such a miracle, really, because this boy was such a ray of sunshine.

The laughter hadn't quite died out until Koko took my face in his hands and steadied me, the corner of his mouth twitching to his left, towards the door. I looked to where he was pointing and nearly fell over laughing again—standing in the doorway, looking shocked as hell, were Anna, Misaki, and Hotaru.

The looks on Anna's and Misaki's faces were priceless. Hotaru stared at me, and if it wasn't just a figment of my imagination I saw something more of a smirk on her face before she got over her initial surprise and her face smoothened out again into the same emotionless façade.

"Imai, Anna, Misaki," Koko greeted them, the good-natured beaming face in place again. Hotaru responded with a nod and a small smile of her own, while Anna and Misaki looked confused and flustered at his words.

I could only giggle; I swear Anna melted with his smile.

Koko put his hands on my waist (it took me by surprise and I knew I blushed but I didn't care at the time) and lifted me so that we could get back on our feet and properly face my friends.

Upright and a little embarrassed, I turned to him and glared. "You got lucky this time. You can't go on avoiding that part of our conversation forever, you know."

He laughed again and headed for the door. "We'll talk about it soon."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

I watched the back of him as he disappeared and turned right. My head felt light and breezy.

A split-second later I was prey to three gossip-hungry predators.

Anna pounced and tackled me back on the bed, squealing. Misaki jumped in right after and Hotaru slammed the door shut and turned the lock before walking over to us with a smile that spelled out mischief.

"What the _hell_ was that about?" I found myself laying flat on the bed, hands pinned to my sides by Anna who was hovering over me, blue eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Why was _Koko Yome_ inside your room?"

"And what the hell was that about _talking soon_?" Misaki's face popped right beside Anna's hyper one. "Girl you have got a _lot_ to tell us!"

"Never figured such high-class men would go for a baby," Hotaru mumbled from my right, eyeing me closely, a smile perched on the sides of her mouth.

"Tell us!"

"Come _on_, don't keep us waiting!"

"I have homework to do, so if you don't start talking soon I might just force it out."

Laughingly I sat on the bed faced by three eager audiences and told them about what happened to me during my three-day stay at the infirmary, focusing on the first night and our little conversation about me. They gasped when I told them he asked me if I liked any guy.

"Unbelievable," Anna gasped out. Her hands were cupping her cheeks and her eyes were as big as teacups.

"Yep, shocking," Misaki seconded.

What the hell were they talking about? "What's unbelievable and shocking? What—I don't get it."

Hotaru rolled her eyes. "Dense, dense idiot," she murmured before snapping her mauve eyes at me. "Obviously the violin virtuoso likes you."

He likes me? Koko _likes _me?

"What—?"

"—And Natsume Hyuuga, too! God, you are such a lucky girl," Anna fussed over me, patting my head like I was some sort of pet.

"Wait, no one _ever_ said those two boys like me!"

"But they've taken an interest in you, that's pretty obvious."

"Yeah, it's not like you need a mind reader to know those two boys are interested," Misaki said; she was standing by the sofa, bent over and looking at something we couldn't see.

"No, that's impossible," I fought back, much to Anna's and Hotaru's dismay; Misaki looked too absorbed at observing my sofa. "Hyuuga is practically a huge jerk and I don't see how he'd like me! And Koko is just really nice, just nice, that's why you'd think he likes me. Misaki, if you want the sofa you can have it, just stop doing that."

"Shut up, Mikan, I'm trying to figure out something!"

Hotaru smirked at me and took out her laptop. "You have got a lot to know about Yome, you dolt."

"Well, you seem to know a lot," I glared at her as best as I could but I only felt I looked like an idiot. "Why don't you enlighten me somewhat?"

"Mikan, did Koko sit on your sofa?" My pink-haired friend asked me.

"Yeah, he did."

"Oh."

Hotaru kept typing and then, after a moment, she placed the laptop in front of me. "Read that."

I was looking at what seemed was the Coven's official web site. It was a forum, entitled _Changing the Virtuoso. _And? What now? "What's this for?"

Hotaru shrugged and opened my fridge, probably looking for crab roe. "Just read it."

So I did. And what I saw there made my stomach clench and unclench in sheer anxiety. The posts weren't really talking about Koko, were they?

_**caramelcream:**__Koko's lyk sooo distnt from us, what shd we do?_

_**fanforever1231234: **__Ikr? It's lyk he's so uninterested._

_**deslxvc: **__What can we do to change him? Surely there's something_

_**Justine: **__No, the virtuoso's too much of a guy to be easily swayed just like that_

_**Koko10000v3: **__KOKOOOOOOO YOU BELONG 2 MEEEEE, LOVE ME!_

"See?" Hotaru said. "He was basically uninterested in girls long ago. Until now, of course."

I was completely speechless until Misaki had to break another piece of unexpected news.

"Mikan?"

"What?"

She finally straightened herself up from bending over at the sofa and walked over to us three on the bed. In her hand was a small piece of paper folded so small which she handed to Hotaru who held out her hand, wordlessly demanding for it.

"Koko left a piece of paper that says 'Meet me at the rooftop at eight this Saturday,' and I don't think it's a joke."

* * *

Too fast. Everything was moving too fast.

"How the heck could two boys like me in just a span of five days?"

Hotaru just kept munching on her toast and shrugged. It was a Friday, and we were headed for Vance Hall, me for Octaves with Jinno and Hotaru for a committee meeting. I was running late for class but I didn't care. It was a basic principle of mine that if you're already late, don't bother speeding up. You're still going to be late anyway.

I just babbled on, and I was vaguely aware of my arms flailing itself all over the place until Hotaru had the sense to slap it down. "Everything isn't real, this isn't being realistic, because I've never had this sort of attention before and even if I were used to it, it still doesn't make sense! That I was able to capture the interest of two cold-hearted boys at school is not something I should just let slip! This is supposed to be just a normal school year, one where I go to class and leave it and pass and fail exams and do recitals; this part should not be included! This only happens in stories and television shows!"

"What are you moping about?" Hotaru asked nonchalantly, annoyance seeping out of her very pores.

Was she insane? Did she not get what I'm blabbing about? "Were you _listening_ to me at all?"

"No, actually."

Sighing, I hitched by bag up more securely to my shoulders. "Gee, for a best friend you sure are nice."

"Thanks for the compliment."

Gritting my teeth in a huffy silence we walked on to my room. Before I entered, however, she gave me a dark kind of warning that proved to be such an ominous thing.

"Jinno's gonna steamroll you so be prepared."

And then she left just like that, just as the school bell ran shrilly to mark the end of the thirty-minute allowance given to late students. She added even more to the restless me that was induced by Koko yesterday. Koko had scared the wits out of me enough last night, and now Hotaru?

Was this Jinno really some kind of demented demon?

I took a deep breath and opened the door—

—and the room was empty, save for who seemed to be Jinno himself, sitting coolly behind the teacher's desk.

I hadn't expected him to look as he did, really, and I had to say he was handsome—well, sort of. I guess he would have been, if only he didn't look so scary with that twisted scowl on his face. The age lines on his cheek and forehead burrowed even deeper under his skin as he gazed at me with such unnerving intensity.

"Good… morning," I feebly greeted. My voice broke on the last syllable and the door's latch clicked in place. I couldn't help feeling like a prisoner with the sound.

He just continued staring at me. It felt like he was skinning me alive, honestly.

And yet somehow he also reminded me of Hyuuga…

What the hell.

"Morning, Miss Sakura," he answered stoically after seconds of silence, gesturing to the seat in front of him. Gingerly I sat down, feeling the nerves racking my spine. Why wasn't anybody else around, anyway?

"The class has been dismissed," he said, as if having just read my mind. "You were thirty minutes early. But apparently for the next class, not mine."

Oh.

So that's why no one was around.

He dropped several sheet music in front of me while I stared down at them like an idiot. Electricity seemed to surge through the air from Jin-jin when I looked back at him. His eyes were hard and dark and menacing, and I cursed my traitorous voice for running away with the wind that seemed to evacuate from the room at this man's very presence.

Koko and Hotaru must be right, after all…

"You have failed to attend to my class for two days, make that three for your failure to do so today. As much as I have been informed about your unfortunate injury I cannot let this matter go unnoticed. First week of classes and you were absent? No, it cannot be let through."

His eyebrows were raised, challenging me to convince him otherwise, and when I did nothing he simply kept talking.

"Here at GASA we have rules. Strict rules. And we follow them, not excepting anyone, and that includes freshmen like you, Miss Sakura. No matter how much of a top student you are."

I flinched at the cold tone his voice had taken when he said my name. It sounded so wrong…

"I take it you're a multi-instrument?"

I swallowed. "Yes, sir."

Every second this was taking seemed to lead to Koko's threat.

Jinno nodded and suddenly, from out of nowhere, produced another bunch of sheet music, all littered with familiar handwritings—

—Holy crap! _My_ sheet music!

That was a serious breach of privacy!

I looked at Jinno, petrified with shock. He seemed uncaring.

"I have asked Mr. Yome to photocopy your music book yesterday. I had knowledge of the existence of this book through Miss Imai, who offered this generous bargain as your punishment."

Two traitors in one sentence.

Huh.

I will not stand down from this.

"Sir, this is a serious violation of Intellectual Property Rights! You didn't even say anything about this!"

Jinno flipped open the cover of the ring-bound photocopy. "There is a scribble here that says should anything happen to you it will be put under Miss Imai's care. We have asked her permission. I take it you are no longer going to claim that this has been a breach of IPR?"

This was so wrong—"Jinno-sensei, I wrote that note down when I was eight years old. That is a null and void statement."

"But a statement nonetheless. I have arranged it with Miss Imai and she agreed to have it reproduced."

It took all of my strength not to ask him how much he paid her, because surely money was involved here, one way or the other. I am going to strangle that woman! And _Koko_! This! This is why Koko was holding my sheet music yesterday inside my room (which, now I come to think of it, was another breach of privacy) and this is how he came to know of my punishment!

So much for trust! Those two had better hide themselves!

Some of the anger must have shown itself on my face. Because Jinno said, "This is punishment for your actions, Miss Sakura."

That only irked me more. It was punishable to get a cracked skull and several broken limbs? Oh, so accidents are a crime now?

"Jinno-sensei, it would be best if we just got straight to the point. Could you explain what this meeting is about?"

His face hardened. "I am here to explain to you the terms and conditions of your punishment." Punishment, punishment, punishment! I get the point already! "Injured as you were you should have at least put forth some effort in completing subject homework and requirement while confined."

"But I didn't know about that rule!"

"That is not my problem."

He glared at me so fiercely that the angry comeback that was itching to burst out of my mouth simply flapped away in fear. Satisfied with my silence and speaking with an air that of a judge announcing his verdict, he dealt me the ultimate punishment: limelight exposure, screen time, and public humiliation.

"You will perform three of your piano pieces and two of your harp. You will also play a violin duet. And you will be playing the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia more known as the Impossible Duet on cello. All of these will be performed this coming Saturday at the Annual Welcome Gala here at GASA. In addition, you will be partnered to a student and perform at the year-end gala as well. The piece you shall be performing is another duet, with you partner who will also be playing the Passacaglia with you. These performances will be judged by the deans of the college, and thus constitute fifty percent of you final grade in all of my subjects."

My heart rammed against my chest at the unjust judgment but my curiosity got the better part of me and before I had the sense to catch my mouth it blurted out the question. "Who's my partner?"

Jin-jin smiled a cold, predatory smile at me and on cue I heard a deep voice from behind me answer my question.

"I am, Sakura."

I turned around and met red, and I felt like an atomic bomb dropped itself to the pit of my stomach.

This was not happening again. "No way."

I turned to Jinno to protest but he cut me off before I could even say a word.

"You are dismissed, Miss Sakura."

* * *

_As I've said above, I'd be happy with a review. (:_

_~Ash._


	5. Cinque: Flickering Flames

**DISCLAIMER **I do not own the musical pieces in this chapter.

**Ashy-note **Classes, in this fic, begins June (sorry, I was still an idiot when I began writing this fic that I really didn't know the facts about Japanese school systems, so gomen ne!) and there are three terms. This is Mikan's schedule for the first term, which ends during winter break (the names of classes are purely made up):

[ _Day and time — _Subject, Teacher (_Classmate_) ]

_Monday-Friday, 5:00-9:30 pm_ — Master Classes, Narumi (Natsume)  
_Tuesday and Thursday, 1:30-4:30 pm_ — Concrete Compositions, Jinno  
_Wednesday, whole day_ — History of Music and Music Fundamentals, Noda (Natsume)  
_Friday and Saturday, 2:30-4:30 pm — _Octaves, Jinno (Koko)

Mondays are Academics days, which means they get to take normal subjects from 8:30 'til 4:30, like:

[ English, Narumi (Natsume) ];  
[ Math, Jinno (Koko, Natsume, Ruka, Hotaru) ] ; and  
[ Science, Misaki (Misaki, Anna, Nonoko, Natsume, Ruka, Koko, Kitsuneme) ]

**LINKS TO THE TWO PIECES TO BE PLAYED IN THIS CHAPTER ARE IN MY PROFILE.**

-:|:-

Cinque **Flickering Flames**

* * *

The day ended as horribly as it began.

Just after last period Jinno rushed up to me after class (I've been trying so hard to hide from him given that I might have skimmed his head clean of skin, but at least that time I was a little less hot-headed) and handed me a schedule of practice hours. It was a Friday and I was already waist-deep in homework and it was less than a week to my first major performance! And the icing to the cake? _Of course! _My Friday practice session wasn't one I could enjoy alone, because apparently, I was to have practice with Hyuuga at Vance Hall right after Master Classes with Narumi. Which meant I was to practice with him until half-past midnight, because Master Classes end at 9:30.

As if I haven't had enough to think about to last me a lifetime already!

The gods and the three witches of the underworld must have some sworn oath to make my life completely miserable, and if they really do well then _damn —_ it's working just fine! It feels like they're all working against me so much that I simply want to drop myself off a cliff and kill me stone-dead.

Okay, that might have been a little exaggeration but it's true!

_Why_ do these things have to keep happening to me over and over again? I've been good!

Poking around with my dinner I felt someone drop a bag right beside me and plop down. A glance told me it was Misaki, looking hellishly annoying, wearing a goofy smile on her face, her eyes round as coins. I stared down my pie for a bit, the misery never quite deserting my face.

"What happened, Mikan?" she asked me excitedly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes but failed drastically. It seemed my emotions were much too crazed up to be easily reeled in just like that.

"Well, obviously as you're already asking, I could only think you already _know_ what happened, Misaki," I groaned. "You're only asking for some sort of confirmation." My apple pie was so holed up it was barely edible anymore. I dropped my fork and stared into space, listening to Misaki.

"I only know the gist, silly!" she babbled on, practically jumping in her seat. "I wanna know what happened with Jinno in Con-Com this afternoon!"

The sigh was inevitable; I guess she was bound to hear about it soon. "He made me write _Sad Violin's_ sheet music in class," I answered her slowly, trying not to recall the agony of listening to a song in your head, without actual music around you. It was infinitely hard dredging something up from the ultimate depths of my short-spanned memory. Gah.

Misaki's eyebrows had disappeared behind her pink hair's bangs. "And you pulled it off?"

Again with the eye-roll. Either Misaki was being unbearable slow or I was being unbearably impatient. I really couldn't care less whose problem it is. (Although quite obviously, it's mine.)

"Yes, I did, and he raised an eyebrow at me and handed me my practice schedule for two weeks and I'm going to start tonight and I'll be sleeping around morning because tonight's practice will be with _Hyuuga!_"

I stopped ranting with my breath short, and split-second later I realized I had practically screamed it out.

Misaki only looked amazed. "Wow, Mikan…" she muttered under her breath.

The awe in her eyes freaked me out and goaded me into speech. "What's 'wow' with that?" She was getting annoying. "Are you alright?" I squeaked.

Misaki squealed. "Oh—my—gosh! Do you know nobody's _ever_ managed to get out of a Jinno punishment alive? Mikan you're like the talk of the town right now! Everybody's talking about how brilliant you were to write that sheet music! Some even said Jinno was so impressed with you!"

"Excuse me," I broke in through her hype; I just didn't quite get what the thing was about, "—but _what _exactly is impressive with that? It's not like I'm the only one who's ever done it, Misaki."

"Oh, shut up, Mikan, haven't you been listening to a word I've been saying? I told you," she went on with a maddeningly patient air, gobbling her salad as she spoke which rendered her almost incoherent, "noneshever managed to shcrape-a pash wif Jinno in d'tenshun!"

Fortunately I was sane enough to understand her, but before I could react further she swallowed her bite and muttered another few words that riled me up even more.

"Of course, other than Natsume himself…"

_What the hell?_ Hyuuga?

Again? No way!

This is getting ridiculously out of hand.

I wanted something more to do unless I end up banging my head so I immediately picked up my bag. "Gotta go, Misa," I told my friend who was too busy chugging down her dinner to even care. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, take care, and good luck with the practice!" she yelled after me.

Ugh. As if I needed the reminder.

* * *

Grabbing my violin from my room after that quick dinner encounter with Misaki, and after packing tons of food for comfort purposes (as I know I would need them all later), I half dragged myself to Dewy Hall for my Master Classes with Narumi. It was four-and-a-half hours' worth of agony, and it was one I never really wanted to enter in the first place. Don't get me wrong, though, because on any other day I would never have had any problems with musical Master Classes, it's just that today (and until infinity doth dictate) it was a _huge_ problem because Jinno had fixed our schedules (by 'our' I mean Natsume's and my schedules) so that all our last classes for the day would be the same.

Which means I have Natsume Hyuuga's face as the last face I ever see before I end up in bed, _every single stinking day of my first term._

Swell. Perfect. Well, if that ain't such fun.

I entered class late.

"…and in effect the music mixes with the wielder's passion and it becomes _magic—_oh, hello, Mikan-chan!"

I swallowed. I had just interrupted a teacher's master class… what was I supposed to do?

"H-Hello, Narumi-sensei," I squeaked, closing the door and shyly lowering my head. I only ever looked at the floor and a few paces in front of me to find the any un-taken seat and sat down gratefully, thankful that Narumi-sensei hadn't made such a big deal of my lateness. If he had been Jinno I'm pretty sure the fiend would have made me do something inhumane again, the creep.

And just when I thought I had found my luck, another bad one comes.

"Hey," said an all-too-familiar baritone voice. Before I could reply, however, I found a piece of paper being shoved to my armchair and written on it, in a messily elegant scrawl, were the words _"Ready for practice?"_

I gagged and did a double take and to my chagrin I was sitting beside Natsume Hyuuga, his red eyes fixed intently on me.

See, the problem lay with his eyes, those damn crimson orbs. On normal days it was bored and usually the amazing shade of red in his irises were alive and sparkling and they were beautiful red gems, but as always when he looked at me (I got lost again, as I always did during the four or so times I managed to look him in the eyes without detestment) I couldn't help but think there was something close to surprise and interest that glimmered behind the ruby jewels.

I couldn't flatter myself with that notion so I snapped myself out of it.

I smiled at him, too tired to begin a bickering session. We have all the time in the world for that.

But just imagine my utmost shock when he smiled back at me—he _smiled!_

Natsume Hyuuga _smiled at me!_

I felt the heat rush up to my cheeks and for good reason—that was one smile he never intended, because the moment he realized he smiled his face immediately reverted to its usual diffident arrangement. I fished out my pen from my bag instead and scribbled a reply while Narumi droned on about the importance of instrument-musician relationship.

_Yes. You?_

I threw the paper at him and he caught it a little clumsily, and a second later he fumbled with the paper and I had to suppress a giggle; he dropped the paper and had to dive down to get it, an opportunity which I took, and I raised my head to look at my classroom.

The room was like an amphitheater, with elevated rows of seats, leaving the speaker to free reign of the lowest portion of the room. It was rather large, and soundproofed from what I've learned. The entrance was right beside the speaker's podium and behind the podium was the instrument room, where GASA kept spare instruments in case of emergency, something which all music classrooms had. The place was also furnished lavishly, adding an airy feel that sort of makes you think you're just right at home. I paused for a while to admire the furnishings—from the draping to the lush red velvet of the chintz armchairs to the cinnamon-colored walls of leather and oak. Everything was to exquisite taste.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when the small piece of paper found its way back to my desk.

_I'm rather impressed by your piece, little girl._

I actually smiled at the note and wrote back, _Thanks. (:_

When I gave it to him I didn't stop looking at him and tried to gauge out any kind of reaction. Instead of reading the note, however, he just folded it and tucked it away into the depths of his pockets and spoke no more for the rest of four hours.

A little annoying, really. The jerk. Moody, insufferable, and acts like a pregnant woman. Bleah.

* * *

When classes were over, I looked beside me and found that Natsume was gone.

I really don't get the boy. One minute he's all nice and accommodating, the next so aloof, and then poof! He disappears, just like that, and I can't help but feel slightly put out because he never answered my last question.

We were dismissed at exactly 9:30, and alone I had to make my way out of Dewy back to Vance hall where we were to practice for the next three or so hours. I felt drained, actually, and nothing short of exhausted.

When I reached Vance Hall, I made my way straight to the practice hall and all but ran away when I put my hand on the knob. Behind that door lay my enemy, my nemesis, and I was about to practice with him until dawn, I was well-decided on that. But standing _inside_ the room and _looking_ at the vast auditorium when I stepped in through the door, however, was a different story entirely, because there were notes flying everywhere and everything I heard was just so damn _captivating_.

Usually it was the backroom door with the strings that was often open, but the door I stepped into was the door that led to the side of the stage, facing the grand piano from whence emanated the very notes that opened my ears and screamed beauty right at my face the moment I set foot on stage.

It was my own composition.

A closer look showed a bobbing head of jet-black hair the popped in and out of sight, playing my composition as if it were his own.

With my own eyes opened, I experienced first-hand and exclusively the magnificence of the Echo Harp. I had seen him play the harp, and now I was witnessing him play on the piano, and I understand how he could be such a prodigy. His fingers practically flew all over the keys, from blacks to whites, and the music he was making with those ten fingers was just so… unbelievable. I never thought my piece could sound so good until now, while he played it so care-freely, almost effortlessly, even.

He played so well, I'll give him that, and with raw emotions on his face during the few seconds I could chance a glance at him, I have to admit he was dashingly gorgeous. Especially as unguarded as he was now.

It wasn't his face, however, that captivated me entirely—it was how his fingers molded perfectly to playing my piece. It sounded almost as if it was written _for_ him, as if he actually felt the emotion behind it. Like I said, he was playing it like a composer would his masterpiece.

So engrossed was I in the music that I hadn't stepped out of my trance even until he had stopped.

"Hey," he said, breaking the spell he had cast on me.

Reason came back to my senses. "You played very well," I said to him, watching his face for any sort of reaction at all, only to carve out none but impatience.

"You seem to have a liking for lateness," he bit our dryly.

"You went out too quickly," I tried to mumbled back at him. He only stared at me and smirked.

I could only smile and then I laid out the food on top of the piano, but not before spreading a towelette over the surface first. "Want food? I brought some."

He raised an eyebrow and _smiled _— and I mean smiled _again!_ — at me for a fraction of a second before returning the usual cold face. "No, thank you."

He walked over to the store room to get his cello, momentarily leaving me alone to mull over the probabilities of this partnership working out. I took out my violin, as well while I waited for him, and in a small span of minutes, I concluded that the chances were bleak.

But they were definitely there.

When he returned (carrying a huge lump of a hard-case), we formally began practice.

"I'd already seen the sheet music for the duet," he said quietly as he expertly rubbed expensive rosin on his bow. I'd be willing to bet all that _that_ bow was a genuine horse tail-hair bow. "I said it earlier and I'll say it again. I'm impressed, little girl."

"Flattered, thank you, but I happen to have a name," I said casually, taking out my violin and doing the same, feeling a little intimidated by him already.

He scoffed. "I remedied some notes on my end, if you don't mind, just so I could make it more… _appropriate_ for my kind of music. Do you have any objections?"

"No, just a question. What do you mean by 'more appropriate' to your kind of music?"

He only smirked at me then tucked the cello expertly on the crook of his neck, ignoring me completely. Deciding it would be best if I just dropped the damn thing, I did the same, following his lead.

I watched him closely only to find the he was also watching me.

"What?" I asked. "Aren't you going to take off your copy?"

"No need," he replied lazily, fingers poised, back ramrod straight. "I got it."

"You're arrogant," I said to him playfully. He merely prodded me with the end of his bow and a little annoyed, I began to play.

I always played my instruments with my eyes closed so I could focus less on the crowd and more on the piece I would be delivering, because most of the time, when I chance a look at the massive collection of people who were watching me, and I'd end up getting distracted somehow. Most of that time, I'd lose it when I see the audience's eyes looking right at me, putting me under some sort of scrutiny.

Odd, then, that as I played, I was unable to tear my gaze away from his scarlet eyes. Vaguely scattered thoughts in my head asked if he felt the same.

The music flowed effortlessly and relentlessly between us, sounding as if they were both straight to the heart and down to all the way to the fingers and toes, but I also caught my breath when I saw and heard him play tonal harmonies to the duet, perfectly, without sheet music.

_Perfect…_

The word clearly rang in my head as I kept on playing and kept on staring into crimson depths that also looked back at me with such unnerving intensity and steadfastness.

_Perfect…_

Every bend of the arm, every note of the melody, every corresponding finger position—everything about out music seemed to match seamlessly, and every second seemed longer, almost as if it were forever. Every sustained note we sustained perfectly, every slide up and down the neck was perfectly in rhythm… I was making music the kind of which I never knew I could possibly have made!

_Perfect…_

He was so different right then and there… and those eyes… they weren't venom or ice, just the same pure, innocent passion for the music we were making together…

_Perfect…_

It was almost violent and alarming, the way he looked at me. It was strong enough to arouse within me a vicious turmoil of emotions that verged on eclectic and dangerously rebellious. The song was a mixture of melancholia and andantes and some medium-tempo parts, but the fierce rush of pride and joy, along with another strange emotion I could not pinpoint (something that settled deep within the pit of my stomach, making it squirm uncomfortably although it might just be the food) ran like thick, steel cables around us both, keeping us entwined in the indescribably strong bond that only music could have created.

_Perfect…_

The ending was just point-perfect. And I got trapped inside a crimson abyss, breathing hard as though I had run for about a mile. That night served as the spark to this crazed-up story that sometimes, I ever wonder why Jinno had to put us together in the first place.

I mean… his _eyes… _They were ablaze when our piece ended. They were bright, excited, and if I was to be completely honest with myself, I felt like I had known him all my life right after that first try. It was as if we had bared out our souls to each other through that one piece.

It was as if a small, flickering flame had just begun to feebly light up.

I flinched, if only to wake myself up.

What was _wrong _with me and him?

* * *

_I find it nice that you are all a little confused about who she'll end up with. I'm curious about your theories. Share it to me, dude! :D Oh, and links to the two pieces are in my profile._  
_~Ash._

Don't forget the review. (:  
**CLICK THIS  
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	6. Sei: Impasse

_Ashynote: _Thanks for the last reviewers! :D Gonna be really short, but the next chap's really lengthy anyway so yeah. Gonna post up the next chapter this Christmas day! I PROMISE. This is just a little filler, because I'm too lazy to type the whole thing in one go. (:

-:|:-  
Sei **Impasse**

* * *

I could not believe this Natsume was the same boy I had met barely a week ago. In all my years of playing all those instruments I have never felt such euphoria as this. Nothing as close to this sudden exhilaration, this sense of freedom and music, that I've just felt right after the duet with Natsume.

And _his eyes…_

It was always his eyes that captured me most. I don't really get it that much myself, but there must be some sort of magic in them, because everytime I look I can't help but just _stare…_

And it gets even harder when he looks back at me, just like that.

"That… was a good duet."

I just stared at him as he looked away to rub more rosin on his bow. He seemed determined to keep his ruby eyes away from mine, but if I were to be honest, I wanted him to look at me. I would have liked to stare a little longer if only one of those harsh realities didn't hit me, because one did: I had make-up exams with Jin-jin tomorrow for the days I'd missed.

And I did not know anything.

"Uh… Hyuuga?"

"Hn?"

I shifted uneasily. After all, who's to say this creep isn't a workaholic and that he won't fly off the wall after my favor? "Um… could we end practice now?"

He stopped his ritual of wiping the cello and stared at me like I just said something completely stupid and incoherent. "What? Why? It's only ten-thirty."

I closed my eyes and heaved a deep, deep breath. It would take all my pride to actually reveal this to him, but I had no choice. It was a terrible matter of life and death. I just hope he realizes how much effort it takes to tell him this. "Because I have… make-up exams with Jinno tomorrow and it's kind of crucial and I have got _no_ clue what I'm supposed to study about and so I'll _try_ to skim the entire surface of Concrete Compositions and its principles and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do and the library's closed so I'll have to risk my life asking Hotaru for her notes and even if I don't _kill_ myself asking for them I'll surely _scrape_ my pockets clean of all the cash I have because— because— gah! You don't know her half as well as I do, she'll rob you of all your savings for the smallest things, like this one time when she asked me for my whole week's allowance just because I forgot to take down notes and I asked her for hers and oh, please! I don't need to tell you my life story! I don't even want to think about it! So, please, pretty please, have some humanity in you and help me in this so let's _go_ already because I really, _really_ need to study and I don't want to fail."

I was gasping at the end of my little speech and my eyes were still closed, but they opened when I heard his slight chuckle. The sound grated on my nerves.

"What are you laughing at? Can't you see? This is a desperate case!"

"You're not a talkative one, aren't you?" he said to me, looking at me with what seemed like a near-smile as he took his cello and hard case. He took his bow from the top of the piano and it took me quite some time before it registered that he was actually putting his things away.

"We— we're going?" I squeaked. I couldn't believe it, not unless he confirms it.

He turned back at me and raised an eyebrow. "What do you think? Now hurry up."

A little miffed with the sudden niceness he displayed, I got to my feet and fixed my things.

Then I noticed he was waiting for me. "What?" I asked him; he was poised by the door, one hand leaning on top of the hard case, the other raking through his hair of black. I had to swallow a bit at the stare he fixed me—honestly, he was _handsome_. Very much so. If only he didn't have attitude issues, I'd pretty much like him. "You can go now, I think…"

Another eye roll. Handsome, yes, but if I didn't know better I would have thought he was gay.

"I'll lend you some Con-Com notes. And maybe even teach you some basics," he said, as if it were nothing much.

_Help. _He said he'd _help_ me.

What? No!

I had to blink once before I could assure myself I heard it right. "You'll _help_ me? As in, _tutor_ me?"

He fixed me another condescending glare which, honestly, kind of made me shrink a little, and his answer was clear enough in that. Hoisting his hard case higher, he pushed open the knob and looked back at me with one eyebrow high up his forehead.

"Okay, okay, I get it, I'm being slow, yeah, yeah," I told him, speeding up my packing. Three minutes later I was walking side by side with Natsume Hyuuga out of the Vance Hall, into the wilderness that is the academy at night.

I cannot believe my luck.

* * *

We walked for quite some time because Vance Hall and Xavier Hall Dorms were on opposite ends of academy grounds. The night was quiet and the sky was littered with tiny white spots… there was just one drawback and it was that there was —

"No moon tonight," he mumbled suddenly, just as the thought crossed my mind.

"Yeah," was all I could say. "Sucks."

His face turned ever so slightly towards mine. "You like the moon?"

"Yep. I like the night in general."

I snuck a glance at him and saw that his eyebrows were raised in what one could assume was disbelief. "Why are you looking like that?"

"Never figured you for the night kind. You look to me to be the type to cower around when there's a blackout… come running to Imai for comfort or something."

I laughed a little at that. "Why would that be? How could you form such impressions of me?"

"Too easy." His languid way of walking and talking gave me ease, and I felt that this person I was walking with was so much more different than the jerk who taunted me back in the first day. "You're too easy to read, to make impressions from. It isn't even hard to see how you're naïve and gullible, and from your clumsiness one could always assume you're more of a day person because for the life of me, I don't see how you'd survive in the night when you trip over your own feet in the very light of day."

He raised one challenging, cynical eyebrow at me and I huffed out, unable to reply. Honestly, his mood swings were rather frightening me already. He seems to have this multiple personality disorder.

"And you think you don't make an impression?" I snarled at him, throwing out an angry tongue in his direction.

He snickered but it sounded humorless to me. "Yes, I've been told I can make girls swoon with a glance and make hearts crash into chests with just a smile."

"Ha, arrogant jerk," I told him, sneering at his reply. "That's not quite true, you know. From what I've felt the first time I met you I thought you were this snobby, gifted jerk who has terrible life issues and who seriously needs a rerun of the rules and regulations of kindness."

This time he really laughed, but only once. "You're the only one who's ever made it look that evil, Sakura. Don't be so mean, I'm gonna shrivel up with your words, ah." The sarcasm was laid on thick.

We reached the dormitory entrance before I could put up with a worthy reply and Saya welcomed us. Her black hair swung lightly to her back when she ran over and met us with a tired smile.

"Hello, Natsume and Mikan. You're a little early? I was told you'd be coming back at around one in the morning."

I was about to reply when Natsume beat me to it. "We had to go early. Besides, you look tired. Go rest, Saya. We'll be fine."

Saya smiled a wan, thankful smile and bowed out, while I was stuck to my spot. Such display of kindness brought me to whip my face towards him, and to my utmost surprise, he was smiling—and I felt my heart stop for a second.

It was a beautiful smile.

"Oi, you. Stop staring, let's go."

Snapped back, reality check. Right. I was not supposed to be like this. I had exams in the morning.

* * *

His room was right across mine (I never knew, dammit) and the tutoring was surprising as hell. Natsume knew the lessons by heart. Considering how he was one year higher than me I guess that was just to be expected, but his mastery rivaled that of a teacher's and I know this sounds overrated, but he _has_ got it all.

Makes me want to think about what his one weakness is.

"—So basically the point of this theory is that whichever note comes last should follow the sixteenth-rest rule depending on which octave it lies. Did you get that?"

I looked at the written lines all over the paper. We were at the grand piano he had in his room and he was pointing out the dynamics in a particular piece he had written for ConCom when he took the subject.

"Yeah, I think so. So this one becomes—" I took his pen and began crossing out notes here and adding notes there, "—this in order to accommodate the theory of the sixteenth?"

He seemed impressed and he did confirm it when he began putting away his notes. "You've impressed me twice in a night, little girl. Maybe you aren't good for nothing at all."

"Wait, we're done?"

"Jinno doesn't take to long exams. He'll probably ask you to correct a piece according to those five theories."

The thought troubled me. "Dammit, I think I'm gonna fail this one," was my whispered complaint.

Natsume held the door open for me as I gathered all my things. His red eyes looked at me in wonder and before he closed the door, I heard him whisper back to me.

"No, you won't. You're not stupid enough after all."

Through the small gap of the door in the sheer moments before he shut it in my face, I could swear I saw a smile in his face. If I were in my right mind, I'd probably have thought I saw something change in Natsume Hyuuga after just one night.


	7. Sette: Incomprehensible

_Ashynote_ As promised! Merry Christmas, everyone. Don't forget to leave a review!

**-:|:-**

Sette **Incomprehensible**

* * *

"You have a lot to tell us. Spill. Now."

Way to go for breakfast. I could practically feel Misaki, Anna, and Nonoko's excitement and it did nothing to improve my mood. After I woke up this morning to a throbbing head (courtesy of Hyuuga and his amazing tutorial skills), I ran down immediately to the cafeteria and saw all five of them clustered around one table. I felt glad to join them, but now I was starting doubt if joining them was the right idea after all. I suppose my only consolation was Ruka's mild curiosity and Hotaru's comforting nonchalance (I never thought the day would come when I'd appreciate her being so diffident). I stabbed my pancake moodily, chewed on it slowly, and then began.

This was bound to be Spanish Inquisition if I slip _just one tiny bit…_

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Everything!" Misaki bristled with suppressed emotions. "We want to know everything!"

"Please exclude me and Ruka," said Hotaru dryly, sipping on her coffee. "We don't exactly keep updated on your miserly date life with the miserly Hyuuga."

"Oh, _please_." I rolled my eyes. "Hyuuga _may_ be miserly, but our date life is not because we don't exactly _have_ a date life in the first place."

"Yeah because it's only beginning, Mi-chan." Anna looked at me with a playfully sardonic gaze while innocently sipping on her carrot juice.

"What? I— no!" I put down my fork and reached for the juice instead. My blood pressure was rising at so early in the morning. "Come on, Hotaru, you don't believe I have a date life with that Hyuuga prick do you?"

She seemed not to hear. "It is interesting, though," Ruka told Hotaru, who only shrugged in return.

I turned to face Misaki, deciding to ignore their disbelief, and pointed my fork in her direction. "You." Hotaru held down my hand but I ignored it. "If you're gonna ask questions then you might as well be specific."

She gave me cursory glance and breathed out in exasperation. "Come _on_, little girl—"

"_Don't—_" I raised the fork again, "—call me _little girl_."

Misaki threw her hands in the air in mock surrender."Okay, okay," she said through a mouthful of salad, "I'm not getting there, I'll stop, just tell us what happened during your practice with the echo harp and I promise I'll shut up."

She gave me a semi-apologetic gaze and I put down my food again to reach for the comforts of the orange juice. Deciding how best to answer without giving away too much, I settled with a boring reply. "It was… uneventful."

Anna rolled her eyes, Hotaru snorted into her coffee, and Ruka and Nonoko chuckled. Misaki only looked enraged.

"Oh, come _on!_" Misaki slapped a hand into her forehead and pointed an accusatory finger in my direction. "You do _not_ spend hours with a guy who likes you and say it was _uneventful_!"

I almost spewed out my juice. "Hold up, whoever said he liked me in the first place?"

Everyone just stared but no one answered. I breathed out and only said, "In any case, it doesn't even matter if he likes me or not or if you believe me or not — because you don't seem to — because nothing interesting even happened at all!"

"Right. Yeah, right. You just don't want to tell us." Misaki taunted me with her annoyingly challenging gaze and I found myself goaded into speech.

"Well it _was_ uneventful!" I put my juice down with a smack. "We practiced for an hour then we went back to the dorm! I have ConCom exams today, in case you guys forgot, so I had to study and I didn't know a thing so he helped me and he tutored me for a couple of hours and that was it. _Uneventful._"

When I finished, everyone — including Ruka and Hotaru — looked at me in mild surprise.

"What?" My eyebrows knitted in wonder. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?" Did I say anything…?

It was Ruka who broke the silence. "Well that's a first."

"First Yome, now Hyuuga," seconded Hotaru, who began fixing her things as she spoke. "She seems like a magnet for trouble after all. Come on, hun, we have to go." She stood up and dragged Ruka's hand up. "See you guys at the auditorium tonight."

Ruka put down his drink, looked at me apologetically, and said, "Excuse us, ladies," before departing with a charming smile.

I turned to face the others. "I don't get how Hotaru gets the Prince Charming of this school. She isn't even half as nice as Cinderella!"

"Speak for yourself," said Nonoko, "you're the one who managed to snag Romeo One and Romeo Two, and you didn't even have to try as hard as Juliet." She looked at me with a sly smile before fixing her things. It was only then that I noticed Anna and Misaki were doing the same.

"Wait, where are you guys going?" I watched them rise from their seats and turn to leave. "It's Saturday!"

Nonoko smiled at me sadly. "Sorry, Mi, we have make-up classes with Serina."

"And I've got to help with the battle preparations," said Misaki. My eyebrows hefted themselves high on my forehead and Misaki sighed. "You never read your orientation letter, did you? Every week GASA holds a battle between students from the three halls."

"Halls?"

"You know, Dewy for piano, Vance for strings, Sakura for brass, percussion, and harps…"

"Oh. That." I nodded absently as Misaki started to leave. "Okay, be safe then."

She stopped and put a hand to my face. "Sweetie, sorry to leave you on your first weekend. Tell you what, after your exams with Jin-jin, we'll eat out then run off to the auditorium. Battle starts at seven anyway. I'll make it up to you tonight. We'll watch the battle. Hotaru's battling Ruka on piano and Natsume's battling Koko on strings. It'll be fun. Okay?"

I nodded and smiled and Misaki smiled back at me. "Enjoy your day. Ciao, Juliet!"

* * *

Seeing as I had no one to be with until my exams later at three and considering how little I know about the school campus I decided to roam around and first, so right after my breakfast I gathered my things and went back to the dorm.

On the way to the ninth floor I began to wonder who the third person in our floor was. Out of my two floor mates, I only know of one, and that was Natsume, and the thought consumed me until the elevator bell dinged. I stepped out onto the landing and made my way to my room when I saw Koko standing right outside my door.

"Good morning, clumsy," he greeted me, his usual goofy smile plastered to his face. "Glad to know you managed to get back here without a bruise."

Despite the obvious insult, I smiled back at him out of sheer reflex—it only seemed natural to smile with him around, and it was definitely hard not to.

"What are you doing here?" I fumbled for my keycard and let him in.

He answered with an airy wave of the hand. "Oh, you know, I only thought it was proper to visit my floor mate on a bright Saturday morning."

Oh, so that answers my thoughts.

Wait. HE was floor mate number two? "You're floor mate number two?" I repeated my thoughts out loud.

He smiled and nodded as he crossed the threshold into my sitting room. "Plus, I thought it would be nice to remind a certain someone about her date with me this Saturday, considering how she seems to have forgotten about it.'

A date?

I doubled back a bit as I dropped my bag on the table, and then I remembered. "Oh, yeah! That one, gosh, sorry I forgot! He sauntered casually into the room and sat down the sofa.

He smiled yet again. "Well? Questions? We have all day but—"

"No," I cut across him. "No, we haven't got all day. I have exams at three."

His bright eyes sparkled with renewed amusement. "You don't read what's posted on bulletin boards, do you?"

I shook my head. "Why?"

He stretched and lifted his legs to lie down on my sofa instead. "Because all make-up exams have been postponed until next Saturday. You don't have exams today, silly."

He looked at me sideways and I felt my day spin right on its heel. "Really?" I asked him, eyes wide open in excitement. "You're not kidding me at all?"

He nodded and said, "Yes, really, and no, I'm not kidding you at all," and in a flash of mental blackout, I ran over and dove into the sofa to hug him. "Oh gosh, Koko, thank you, you saved my day! I know nothing of ConCom and I thought I was gonna fail because I knew nothing and _gosh! _Thank you so much, Koko!"

I felt him wrap his arms around my waist and laugh. "Such a child," he whispered as he buried his face in my hair. I was too happy to care, but I didn't think I was supposed to hear what he just said.

The hug took longer than necessary, and I began to pull away.

He wouldn't budge.

"Koko," I told him, poking him in the sides. "Koko, you can let go now."

His hold tightened. "No," he protested childishly. "Don't want to. Right now you're my teddy bear."

I laughed and started tickling his sides. "Teddy bears don't like getting crushed!" With all my force I made to release myself from his hug and stared down at him when I was finally freed. He smiled and stared at me with something in his eyes that I couldn't place, but before I could think of what it was, he jumped to his feet and dragged me by the hand.

"Come on, Teddy, we're going out!"

* * *

"Koko, where on earth are you taking me?"

We were at the basement of Xavier Dorms, a place I never knew existed, and with Koko still leading me by the hand. We ran along rows and rows of cars and motorbikes. Koko just smiled in reply.

"What are we doing here anyway?" I asked again. "Are we even allowed here?"

Yet again he smiled, but this time he answered my question. "Technically speaking, no, but I don't think Dad would mind."

The word made me wonder. "Dad?"

We stopped in front of a zircon blue Audi and Koko fished out keys from his pockets before smiling at me. "Koko 101," he said as he led me to the passenger seat and opened the door for me, "I'm the son of Tatsumi Yome."

It took me some time before his words made an impact.

"_They're from the four richest families in Asia…"_

"…_Dad would mind…"_

"Oh!" I gasped as I figured it out. By the time I did, he had already revved the engine and we were sweeping out of the underground garage and into a tunnel straight ahead. "Why did you never tell me? And why did you instantly reveal it to me now?"

We were speeding down the tunnel really fast, and even though I hated speed I found I could trust him. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly in hesitation and, perhaps, an inner battle of wills. "You know your questions are rather… contrasting."

I nodded, even though he probably couldn't see me. The tunnel was long and dark and seemingly endless.

"I didn't tell you… because I didn't want you to think so differently of me. I tell you now, because I want to avoid those story-line clichés of you finding out at the last minute, when you've finally fallen in love with me, with you running off somewhere to go cry and maul me with words, like 'I trusted you' or 'You never told me' and all that crap. It just gets so old, you know? And besides, you're this kind of girl I know I can trust one way or another and a girl like you is pretty rare. I don't want to miss the chance to get to know you."

I took in his words and unconsciously blurted out, "That wouldn't change the fact that I like you."

The quiet purr of the engine was all I could hear after my pronouncement and I couldn't speak at all. What have I just said? Oh, god, this is not good! I felt heat creeping up my face and I couldn't speak until Koko decided to break the silence.

Honestly, thank God for Koko.

"So, where d'you wanna go? This road leads to Tokyo Central, you know…"

A smile made its way to my face as I looked at Koko and he spared a joyful glance at me.

* * *

We rode all over Tokyo that day. We went to eat lots of new food and he made me eat ice cream (loads, actually), past delis and shopping centers (Koko even bought me a few hats just for the heck of it) and Koko never let me spend a single cent. Everything was on him and halfway through I was already forcing him to let me pay or I'll throw a bunch of money on his doorstep by the time he sleeps tonight and I think that frightened him a bit, but it didn't work at all.

On top of that, I got to ask tons of questions about him, and I found out so much more than I would ever have wanted to know. He played the piano first too, like me, and our instrument evolution (as he put it) was exactly the same. Every instrument I played, he played too. I also learned about his judo and capoeira skills. He was also home-schooled and GASA was his first-ever experience of social life.

"That's why people thought I was this secluded jerk," he told me while we walked down an alley on the way back to his car. "I knew Natsume and the others because our families constantly gathered on parties, but they were closed parties. We're all related one way or another, you see… and that's why the only people I ever talked to at the Academy were those three."

He rammed ice cream on my nose after that, and I had to chase him back to his car for revenge.

We kept at the question and answer thing while drove along various streets of Tokyo and I found out that he loved the colors brown and yellow. He liked pasta and hated fish. He only drank tap water and he hates fruit juices because it reminded him of children's medicine. He once threw a tantrum because his mom took away his teddy bear and wouldn't give it back. The list went on and on and on and I was having so much fun knowing stuff about Koko, but it was punctuated when I saw what was obviously the head of a Ferris wheel.

"Carnival!" I yelled, my head sticking out of Koko's car. I looked higher and saw the head of a giant Yo-Yo ride and in sheer excitement I turned around to look at him and found our faces inches apart. He was looking over too, and it seemed I faced him too soon because we were a hairsbreadth away from actually kissing.

We stared at each other for a split second before looking away awkwardly.

"So… um… d'you want to go to the Carnival?" Koko asked when we had both recovered our poise. "We still have an hour before six."

"Yeah, I'd love that," was all I could say.

* * *

We came back to GASA ten minutes past six, and he went back to the dorms with me.

"Now we're even," he said as we went inside the elevator.

I smiled at him tauntingly and he gave me a wary eye. "Seriously, Koko?" I teased him. "Sitting on a cat because you thought your poor Jerris cat was cushion?"

"What?" he said defensively. "Jerrball was a Persian cat and she was almost a Persian rug if she only grew a few more inches of fur. You'd have thought she was a cushion too if you were in my position then."

"And Jerris wheel?"

He rolled his eyes. "Now, don't start on that one."

I laughed. "You said 'Jerris wheel', not Ferris wheel!"

He turned red and on cue, the elevator opened. "Come on. Give me a break. I was nine."

I laughed and he scowled and our contrasting faces were what greeted the landing. He took out his keycard and I took out mine and we went to our own doors, but not before I said thank you to him.

"Thanks for rescuing me, Koko. I had the best day so far."

He smiled an achingly sweet smile at me and said, "No, Mikan. Thank _you_ for letting me in."

Then he went inside his room and disappeared. I couldn't make enough sense of what he said.

* * *

"What do you mean the battle's postponed?" I moaned into the receiver. Misaki was apologizing profusely on the other end.

"_Look, there were some technical problems. The judges didn't come and the auditorium's out for repairs. Sorry, love, I'll make it up to you tomorrow."_

"Oh, fine. I'll just study for ConCom, try to remember most of what Natsume told me last night," I mumbled. "You owe me for this one, Misaki."

"_Wait, you're studying for ConCom? I thought your exams were today?"_

"It was postponed too."

"_So where did you go?"_

"Koko took me out for the whole day. We just got back."

My statement caused all sound to disappear from the other end. I had to slap myself for being so damn honest and then I heard mutterings and a small slamming sound.

"Misaki? What was that?" I asked. There were more mutterings and I realized something. "Misa, am I on loudspeaker?"

Misaki's voice was wan. _ "Mikan… that was Natsume. He walked out and slammed the door after hearing what you said."_

* * *

That night, I wasn't able to sleep at all. Maybe it was because of the coffee, but a huge, nagging part of me told me it was more bent with the existence of Natsume Hyuuga and the fact that I didn't know what to make of his fluctuating signals.

I groaned and twisted in bed and eventually ended up staring into the space above me. For some reason my hands found the button on my clock and a faded red light flashed across the stretch of black ceiling, displaying the time. It was four in the morning. The darkness in my room was starting to lift because the sun was starting to rise, dowsing the room in a bleary sort of light.

What the _heck_ was I supposed to do with a sleepy head? It was almost morning. I could already feel Natsume's lessons draining away from my head.

I sat up in bed and massaged my eyelids, sore from playing close-open, but I promptly froze when I heard the unmistakable sound of something hitting my window. The sound was like claws raking through glass, and occasionally it made a popping sound.

I was never a fan of horror movies and I hated them to the core because they frightened me to death. I tried so hard not to visualize lost souls searching for someone to help them, or kids bloodied and trampled over or beaten to death, or _worse—_

Those thoughts were _not _helping.

I stayed still for a while wondering what to do until—

_CRACK!_

—the windows shattered. _The windows shattered!_

_THE WINDOWS SHATTERED!_

I found my voice stuck in my throat and some sort of rock dropped down in when I saw a shadow creep over my bedroom door. Dammit, now I wish I closed the freakin' door!

I had half a mind to run over to the door and bolt it shut and the fear gripping me was so strong that I actually managed to move my feet and I ran and ran as fast as I could to slam the door shut until—

—"_OUCH!"_

A hand was sticking out from the door I had just almost slammed shut. I kept throwing my weight at the door to close it. "Get away, whoever you are! I'm calling Saya, I mean it!"

"Mikan, dammit, it's me, Koko!"

Oh—what? Koko?

I quickly moved away from the door and watched as the latched moved inward to reveal a very flustered Koko standing outside my doorway, holding his hand to his chest.

That had to hurt.

"Seriously, Little Girl bites hard," said Koko as he clambered over to my bed, lying down with his eyes closed.

"What are you— _Little Girl?_" I crossed my arms as I stood over him and glared, even though he couldn't see. "Even _you_ call me _Little Girl_? What is wrong with the world? Seriously, does everyone call me that here now?"

Koko gave a small laugh. "Actually, you _are_ known as Little Girl."

I recoiled from the knowledge. "Excuse me, what? Why am I this little girl, why am I called a 'little' girl?"

Koko sat up and stared at me from head to toe. "Well, aside from the obvious thing that you're almost only five feet tall, everyone also knows you only chose GASA because you were too young to enter Juilliard's."

My eyes popped open in shock. "Everyone knows about _my life_?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Pretty much. GASA's a small community and it's rare to find a new person getting enrolled because no one seems to get past the screening exams."

"So you all research on my life right after you find out I got in?"

"Not really. I just know. The others found out after you came, but I knew ever since."

What? "How did you know _ever since_?"

Koko, whose eyes were trailed on the floor, widened. "Oops, wasn't supposed to tell you that."

I didn't bother asking, either. Then I realized what I was really going to ask him in the first place. "Koko, what on _earth_ are you doing in my room at four in the morning?"

It took no less than a blink of the eye—no sooner had I asked the question when I found myself on my back on bed with Koko holding me pinned to it, although it wasn't necessary, really. His jewel-like gaze already held me in place, because it was swirling with a flurry of emotions that strangely distorted the color, making his eyes look less of topaz and more of a golden-brown that was both mysterious and frightening.

"Mikan…" he whispered pleadingly.

For a moment I wasn't aware of anything else, only that his face was so dangerously close to mine and that we were a hairsbreadth away from each other's nose tips. The seconds ticked on, so painfully slow, and all we did was stare and stare at each other and I realized something, which I think had always been there in the back of my mind: Koko and Natsume were so similar. It was in those few seconds that I felt Koko's gaze were as strong as Natsume's should he wish to unleash its power. But I wasn't able to think much because I was too hypnotized by Koko's eyes boring holes in my mind, distracted by the distance of our faces, and afraid… much too afraid, because the Koko I was seeing was not the Koko I've come to know during the few weeks.

Koko moved his head back and I thought I could breathe— until my mind went blank and all I felt was the powerful lips moving against mine and I had no more thoughts whatsoever.

It was my first kiss. My first kiss.

If the moments when we stared were long, the kiss went on longer. Koko's lips were strong and urgent and my mind was completely numb to everything but the sensation his kiss made… all I could feel was the lurching feeling in my stomach that seemed to twist and untwist and twist again.

I gasped when he deepened the kiss and he moved his hands from beside me to hold my face, and I lost it— I answered back the kiss with what I knew…

I lost track of time. That kiss… my first kiss could have gone for hours, I couldn't tell…

With another gasp, Koko pulled away from me and stared at me with alarmed eyes.

"Shit…"

He looked around and stood up and stared at me with open eyes.

"Mikan… I'm so sorry."

He backed out and ran out. The door slammed shut behind him.

I remained on the bed, back to where I was since after Natsume's tutorial, staring at the ceiling.

_Koko…_

I felt the tears lingering and I let them fall, not knowing the reason for them at all.

* * *

"Oi. You okay?"

The sound of his voice made me sit up straight and look around. For the second time in an hour, someone entered my room without permission, and for some reason it had to be him.

Natsume stood languidly on my door frame, his feet crossed lazily one over the other, and peered at me through his piercing red eyes.

I looked at him, forgetting for a moment about my tears, and said, "Why are you here?"

He raised that trademark sardonic eyebrow. "Why are _you_ crying?"

"I am?" Oh, right, I was crying. Quickly I wiped my eyes clean. "Maybe it's the exam jitters… you know. Frail, little girl."

"Right. You cry a week before exams but yet you scream at me like I'm no one important at all."

I shot him as dark a glare as I could muster. "You're not important, Hyuuga. Don't be so full of yourself."

"I'm part owner of this school, so don't be so sure of yourself either."

I didn't want to fight so I stood up and walked out of my bedroom to open the windows in the living room and to keep my thoughts away from what had just transpired. I thought of looking around the room and let my wonder and awe consume me. Vaguely I saw Natsume follow me with his gaze, but I tried not to care.

Xavier Hall Dormitory was the most furnished, luxurious dormitory in all of GASA and I could see why. The first time I entered my room my jaw dropped, and until now I couldn't believe my luck. The dorm was ten stories high. Three rooms per floor which meant only thirty students are given the chance to live in this majestic place. And majestic it most certainly was, because the room was huge: it had a study room, a bed room, and a living room, all for the comfort of the dormer.

From the windows I saw the sun starting to peek from the cover of skyscrapers that littered the city; I check the wall clock: 5:13.

It must have been a long kiss then.

Unconsciously, I touched my lips as I turned around and saw Natsume still looking at me from the door leading to my bedroom. "Why aren't you leaving?"

"What happened to you?"

I pretended not to know. "Nothing. What are you talking about?"

He snorted. "Sakura. There are only three of us living on this floor and your room is right across mine. It doesn't take an idiot to hear how a window suddenly breaks and it doesn't take much either to hear the slamming of a door."

"I meant why are you here?"

He breathed out in annoyance. "I thought I made it clear to you what I think of you: you, to me, are an extremely clumsy person and you need a walker every second of your living life because you can't even stand on your own two feet without running the risk of you falling down and hitting your head on concrete."

"Flattering, thanks Hyuuga." I pulled him by the arm and dragged him out to the door. "Thanks for caring."

"I wasn't _caring,_ little girl, I was concerned."

"Same difference." I made to close the door in his face once he was out of my room, but his hand stopped me.

"Don't do anything more rash than necessary, Sakura, for the life of me."

My eyes involuntarily twitched. "Why do you _care,_ Hyuuga?"

His red eyes hesitated for a while and it looked like he was steeling himself to say something. He was silent for quite some time and I waited, but all he came up with was a lame, "Because I don't like performing alone."

His reason was so lame I smiled. "Don't worry, Natsume-kun. I won't die."

A flicker came over his eyes and he nodded, his acceptance surprising me.

"I'll hold you to that, Sakura. Just… stay safe, won't you? I really don't like performing alone."

He made to move forward and I wasn't in the right head, but it still took me by surprise when he pressed his lips to my forehead.

"Stay safe, Mikan."

I felt the heat rush up my cheeks at the sound of him calling me by name. My heart sped up, my eyes lost focus, and my lungs seemed to have lost all air… If anything, it had a stronger effect on me than Koko's kiss…

I couldn't wrap my mind around it.

First, Koko… and now Natsume Hyuuga _kissed_ me… too?


	8. Otto: Third Week's the Charm

**Ashynote **_I (strictly) suggest you drop by my profile first and open all the YouTube links to the songs they will be playing in this chapter, for the full experience. And I know, I know, I haven't updated my lazy arse in quite a while and I'm sorry for that, but here's a not-so-long-but-hopefully-long-enough chapter to make up for it! (:_

_PS. I am not a Music major and I don't know any of the technicalities of music, so just apply Suspension of Disbelief while I try to stumble my way through this, a'ight? Thanksies!_

* * *

I woke up to my alarm clock shrilly ringing. Blearily I opened by heavy eyelids and checked the clock that sat beside me, pushing the snooze button rather harshly. 11:25 in the morning. Close to noon.

I never set the alarm for nothing, but what did I set the alarm for?

I scrambled out of bed and as I rubbed my eyes and yawned, I heard a knock on my door. Stumbling around on my bare feet, I went over slowly to let whoever it was in.

"G'morn— _Natsume?_" Okay, now I'm pretty sure I'm awake. Or am I? "What is it? Why are you carrying Celli? What?"

He had the trademark smirk on his face, but as he stared longer into my confused face, I suppose he realised I really did not know what he was here for. "Don't you ever read your schedules? We have general practices today, with the entire faculty and the orchestra."

His words hit me like ice-cold towels to the stomach. I backed away from the door and ran towards my backpack on the floor by the sofa. I rummaged through my things—notebooks, pens, occasional food wrappers—until I pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

_Friday—9.30PM onwards, Vance Hall  
Sunday—12NN to 5.30PM, general practice for Welcome Ball_

"You have thirty minutes, little girl," he drawled from the doorway.

He was right.

Oh, dear lord, thirty minutes!

I was huffing and breathless by the time I came back to the living room where I saw Natsume still standing by the doorway. "Okay, I'm ready, let's go," I told him, grabbing my bag and running out the door.

"Oi!"

"What?" I stopped in my tracks and looked at him. His eyebrows were quirked upward. "Your violin, idiot," he mumbled. I had to groan a little and went back to my bedroom to retrieve it, appearing a little later, out of breath.

Natsume glanced at his wristwatch. "Twenty minutes to go. Record time, polka dots." He hefted his cello hard case higher up his shoulder. "Let's go."

The walk to the auditorium — which, mind you, was not a short one _at all — _took surprisingly little time than I had anticipated. Part of me thought it was probably the fact that I was with someone (granted that person was Hyuuga, but fair enough), but another part of me (the one that constantly got me in trouble) whispered malicious crap along the lines of 'liking Natsume', which right now I really did not want to dwell on.

To be completely honest — and I rarely ever am when it came to these kinds of things — he's actually not half bad. He clearly was a jerk when we first met, and I don't think anything can be used as an alibi for the way he treated me (so dastardly!), but the first time we really got anywhere close to a civil conversation (which was during… practice or Master Classes with Naru? I'm not so sure) was quite a novel experience for me. He _is_ rather arrogant in his own way, but I suppose it's partly because of the fact that I got my biases from meeting Koko first. When he plays, though, there's this complete revelation. I can't quite bring myself to say there was a "change"; not anymore, because I figured it was hardly the right word. Natsume doesn't _change_ when he plays. He just shrugs off his weird veil of mystery and he drops the bad-guy-ish attitude.

And yet again, truth be told, I _like_ that about him.

"Ah, Mikan-chan! Natsume-kun! We've been waiting for you!" Narumi's voice sounded like wind chimes; clearly our teacher is happy about something.

"Sorry, Narumi-sensei, I… kind of slept in," I mumbled. I looked to my right and found that Natsume had disappeared.

Narumi just looked amused. "Well, I know that you've been through quite a lot yesterday, so I suppose I could let it pass, eh?" He smiled at me and I could feel my knees turn to mush. What was it with this guy and charming people? "Everyone's here, Mikan-chan, come, let me introduce you!"

"What – no! Please, no—"

"Everyone," Narumi called out at the top of his voice, "this is the new addition to our little group, Sakura Mikan. She is a freshman majoring in Strings! Everyone, say hello to Mikan-chan!"

I groaned as "everyone" chorused a seemingly practised reply. "Hello, Mikan!"

"Hello," I managed to blurt out. Raking through the audience just as Narumi let me go, I found Hotaru and Ruka sitting somewhere at the topmost part of the auditorium. I grinned as I approached my best friend, and while her nonchalant expression gave away nothing, I managed to catch a little smile flutter over the sides of her lips. Ruka moved over and let me sit next to him, and when I found myself settled down and far away from prying, curious stares, I looked around.

There were about seventy people in the room. Most appeared to be students, but others seemed to be teachers, unless they were just really old students. Misaki waved at me from the farthest corner, red hair standing out under the bright lights that permeated the place (the curtains were drawn and so the midday sunlight made for a very nice spotlight). She was sitting beside Anna and Nonoko who were busy chatting about whatnot. I waved back to her as discreetly as possible while Narumi and a few volunteers started handing out the sheet music for the pieces we were about to practice.

I squealed a little when a bunch of papers were held in front of my eyes. "Th-thanks."

It was Koko, and he avoided my gaze. Abruptly, I remembered what had happened to make me sleep in so late.

_"Mikan…" he whispered pleadingly._

_Koko moved his head back and I thought I could breathe— until my mind went blank and all I felt were the powerful lips moving against mine and I had no more thoughts whatsoever._

"Oh…" I didn't realised I was staring into space until Hotaru touched my shoulder and asked, "Something wrong?"

I shook my head and smiled at her. "No, not really."

Ruka frowned, and if my eyes are to be trusted, he spared a quick glance at me, then Koko, then me again. "You sure, Mikan-chan? You could ask Narumi to let you skive off for today," he said gently as Hotaru bustled around, standing up in preparation for the ensemble arrangement.

"No, no, I'm okay, I'm just… a little confused."

Hotaru smirked. "Probably bumped her head against the headboard."

I shot her an annoyed look as I reached for the handle of my violin just; Narumi once more spoke up. Ruka looked unconvinced at my answer but he seemed to understand that he was not supposed to push for a decent reply. "Alright then."

"Pianos here on stage please," Narumi clapped his hands to get attention. "Now, in order please, standard procedure, you all know the drill! First and second violins to my far right, harps right behind them and percussion right beside the harps! Viola, woodwinds, brass, centre please! Cellos to my far left, bass behind the cellos! Double time, everyone, I can't wait for the magic to start!"

Once we had all settled down, Narumi took his position at the conductor's podium (which in this case was a hard case) and gracefully waved his hand over us all. And just like that, everyone was quiet.

It was like magic.

I never really had the opportunity to play _in_ an orchestra before, and this being my first time, I couldn't help but feel far too excited for my own good. Our first piece was the famous _Les Misérables _opening.

"You should really pay attention," someone said from behind me. I whirled around and saw Koko arranging his sheets. I can't help but think he's purposefully avoiding me again. "Narumi isn't exactly a ray of sunshine during practices, and the first piece isn't a piece of cake either."

"Everyone!" Narumi's hands were poised in front of him, baton held aloft, ready to begin. Hurriedly, I tucked my violin under my chin and waited for the signal, only to realise that violins played a minor role in the opening sequence.

In a split second, Narumi's hands came crashing down and a cacophony of drums and not-so-harmonious instruments played. Even I had to flinch a little; it sounded _awful_. The timings were so off, probably because Narumi's signal caught everyone off guard. He looked like a puffer fish about to… well, _puff_.

"PAY ATTENTION!"

I promptly jumped out of my seat, and a black-haired girl beside me giggled. I didn't mind, though, I was really shocked. Narumi suddenly looked demented, as if he could kill at any given moment, and then he smiled widely and said sweetly, with no trace of the former blast of fury, "Again. From the top, please."

Whoa. I could see what Koko meant.

It took us almost two hours to finally perfect the first song. Narumi was all screams and smiles and the man was honestly so difficult to predict. One moment he'd be closing his eyes and everyone would think they're doing fine, and the next his eyes suddenly reappear and he yells at a certain faction of the orchestra for making mistakes which none of us, frankly, really could hear. And every time he deemed the symphony imperfect, it was a complete restart.

My fingers were numb by the end of the gruelling two hours.

"Alright, not bad for a first practice, everyone!" Narumi was all lips-to-ears again. "Ten minute break, and then we proceed to the solos and duets we'll be having."

I hadn't realised I was so hungry until Hotaru shoved a sandwich into my hands. "You didn't eat lunch, you idiot. Narumi's practice sessions are much more energy-consuming than going to the gym. You're going to need all the nourishment you can get."

"Is he always this difficult?" I groaned, disgruntled at the strict treatment.

Ruka snorted. "Hardly. He's taking it easy today because there are two freshmen in the company today. You wait a little longer and you'll get to meet Demon-Naru, as we all like to call him."

"He's _taking this easy?_" I glared at the blonde man who was dancing around the stage to pianists laying a Scottish dancing piece. "You mean this is the tip of the iceberg?"

"No, it's actually more of the base," Ruka said, smiling slightly. "The iceberg's tip could kill you if you're not up for it."

That didn't quite sound so appealing…

Ruka and Hotaru resumed to talking about whatever it was that lovers talked about as I chewed on my sandwich thoughtfully; after a while I ran out to get some water.

I returned just in time to hear Narumi calling on Natsume and Koko and Ruka and Kitsu for their group performance. I scooted over to my seat (the company returned to its usual, non-orchestra arrangement) and watched as the four boys took out their cellos and sat down.

I waited with bated breath. I watched them once, but that was as an ignorant little girl who knew nothing of what they could do. Now that I'm well aware of the extent of their abilities, I couldn't help but be a little excited. There was something so weird whenever they stepped on a platform and put on their game faces. It felt like watching several masters prepare for a battle or something. There was Ruka, in all his blonde-hair-blue-eyes glory — how infuriating that he could play both piano and cello excellently; and then Kitsuneme and the Magical Eye that he never seemed to need; and then Natsume, which is fairly self-explanatory; and Koko.

Koko who, right now, seemed very, very off.

I watched as their feet wrapped around the cellos and Koko's silent tap-count came to an end. Then the music began.

I shuffled through all the sheet music and found one that was written by all four guys who stood on stage. The piece was called Beautiful, and as I listened to the first few notes, it was called so for good reason. The melody was so eerie, so haunting, the kind that would never have been written by unsophisticated minds… the four cellists played on and everyone in the room didn't seem to move. I wouldn't know. My eyes were too glued to the sheets, my fingers itching to play it with them even know it knew it could never achieve the same emotions.

I wonder who the main composer was, and what he was thinking of when he created the piece.

Surprisingly enough, it was a piece that showcased not their skill for playing but their skill in composition. I smiled a little as I followed through the notes and spotted a little of the theory he had discussed to me a few nights ago.

The three final notes that heralded the end of the piece left me hanging.

"That's all?" I whispered to no one in particular.

"No," replied a shy voice. I looked around, shocked, and saw the same raven-haired girl who sat beside me, one of the second violins. "They're still going to play one more piece, look." She smiled at me and I could only ever smile back, and my ears pulled my eyes towards the four boys who were now playing a completely different melody from before.

"Is that…" I began, eyebrows creasing in wonder. The song was strangely familiar…

"Yeah, it is," the girl beside me said in glee. "Epic jerks."

They hit the chorus and the sound of the cellos occupied the entire auditorium. I couldn't believe it, but they did it. They covered a Metallica song.

And it was _The Unforgiven_, no less.

And it actually _worked. _It worked so well that I barely noticed anything else until they finally slowed down to the bridge. They made the violins sing! And lo and behold, just when I thought it couldn't get worse (better, really, but I feel so inferior), Natsume hit up the solo.

And then it faded away, along with what little breath I had left. It was then that I realised how cellos were _so_ metal.

"Wow."

"I know," said the girl again. "How frustrating life can be."

I sighed. "You can say that again."

Narumi stood up in applause and the rest of the crew followed. Then he called out my name.

"Mikan-chan! You're up next!"

I snarled, and the girl beside me giggled. "Now I'm going to look like cheapskate next to that performance," I mumbled as I hobbled down to the piano. The girl only smiled and said, "Oh, hush, I know you'll be brilliant."

Heh. Nice girl.

As I sat down the chair, I snuck one last glance at the audience and saw Natsume staring at me intently. I remembered how he had played the song during our first practice and I couldn't help but be a little possessive about the way he claimed my piece. I could not be sure if I was only imagining it, but there seemed to be something challenging about his stare.

The smug jerk. I am going to _show_ him that nobody plays my pieces like that.

My hands grazed all over the ebony and ivory, and then I lost myself, and it was only the music. I was only vaguely aware of my eyes closing and opening and I felt each and every stroke on the keys but I couldn't hear the music—I could _feel _it. There was something about the way the air moved around me that gave me the only clues I had of whether my piece was going well.

But during a moment of awareness when I chanced a look at the audience, I saw Koko on the front row, squinting at me, looking at me like he did the first time we met on the grounds. His gaze seemed just as angry, just as hostile… I fumbled with the keys in surprise but quickly recovered, but I had lost the spell of my music and got caught up in a different, more savage form of arcane enchantment.

_Why_ was he acting like that all of a sudden?

I hadn't realised how all my anger transposed itself into my music, and when I was done — my piece took all of one minute and thirty seconds — I stood up, bowed, and went straight to the seats to pick up my violin, only vaguely hearing Narumi say that my duet with Natsume was next. I secretly looked at Koko and his face was back its customary form: a wide grin, directed at the other members of their 'coven'.

What is wrong with him? How could someone be so _infuriating_ all at once?

When Natsume and I took our places on stage (him sitting down and me standing up), he counted to three and we began. I played hard on my violin, but after a while I noticed that Natsume had stopped playing and that everyone was breaking out in whispers. Narumi only looked amused. A few rows away, Hotaru was gazing at me in wonder, and next to her, Misaki was tutting, like I had done something wrong. The sight only irked me more.

"What? What's wrong Natsume?" I asked, watching him put down his bow and gently lay his cello down the floor. "Where are you going?"

He yanked my violin from my grip and carefully placed it on the piano, then dragged me out of the auditorium.

"Hey! What is this about? I—_can_—_walk_, thank you!"

He turned around and glared at me. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" I squealed. "What's wrong with _you_, suddenly running off like that? Seriously!"

He growled, a menacing sound that caught me off guard. "Why are you so angry?"

I growled back at him, but the sound was pitiful even to my ears. "Why do you care?"

"Because the Passacaglia isn't a song of anger!" His outburst momentarily stunned me into silence, and all my earlier frustration flew away. "Didn't you listen in Musical Theory? A passacaglia is literally supposed to be a walk in the street! And you play it like you're dragging your feet into the road hoping the cobblestones detach themselves from the cement!"

I avoided his angry gaze and opted to look at the tapestry directly ahead of me. "How would you even know I'm mad?"

He blew out an angry breath and yelled, "Because you're too honest with your music!"

Silence struck us both. I couldn't find the proper words to say and I couldn't stop my eyes from darting back to the red jewels in his face that seemed to equally flare with emotion. "I… I'm sorry," I managed to say. "I… I'm not mad anymore. I'm sorry. Let's go back."

He took a really deep breath and nodded as he opened the door without saying a word.

The duet went as smoothly as possible, but devoid of the passion that had once enveloped us both, it felt static, robotic, that by the end of the piece I had murdered myself in my head three times already. I went back to my seat, where the black-haired girl stared at me in awe.

"What?" I snapped at her.

She only smiled sweetly. "Nothing," she said, unfazed my rudeness. "It was just really surprising how you managed to draw out the tiger in him so easily."

Still a little miffed but very much mollified by her statement, I smiled back at her wearily. "Sorry, I'm just really angry, I don't even think I'm sure of the reason."

"It shows," she said, flexing her arms and checking her watch: it was four fifty in the afternoon. "And don't worry, I've seen worse tantrums than yours." She smiled again and packed up her things, just as Narumi declared the session over for the day. Following her lead, I marched out of the auditorium alone, craving for the sanctuary of my bedroom, ignoring Misaki's calls and plodding on.

"I apologise for my discourtesy earlier."

Well, at least I _thought _I was alone. I sighed out heavily and walked faster, only to find that he could easily catch up with me.

"You do realise that your five-foot four-inch stature is far too easy to overtake, yes?"

"Shut up, Hyuuga." I tried to walk ahead of him but to no avail.

"And I'm also sorry for my impropriety earlier this day."

That got me. I sighed again, tiredly this time, and let him walk with me. "Don't… don't think about it. I don't want to remember it either. I have too much on my mind."

He sniggered, and when I looked at him I found that nearly everyone had been left behind; we headed for the dormitories together. "What could possibly occupy your mind so much? It's the second week of term."

"I have a make-up exams with Jin-jin!"

"Which I already taught you," he replied, clearly glad to see that I wasn't so reactive to his current streak of oddities. "Don't tell me you still don't get it until now?"

I groaned. "I probably don't. In any case, I still have to find a damn dress for the stupid ball! I didn't bring any party dresses! Hotaru and the others just _conveniently _forgot to mention that there was an annual welcome ball being held in this school! And now what am I supposed to wear? It's not like my allowance would ever be enough to buy a new one, and I can't even borrow a dress from any of my friends because I'm the _smallest_ of the lot and I can't fit in any of their Amazon clothing!"

He was smiling when I next looked at him. "You definitely are a talkative one."

The rest of the trip happened in the same comfortable silence I've now come to associate with him. We arrived fifteen minutes later at the Xavier Hall dormitory and bid each other good night as we went to our respective doors.

I fumbled with the key card to my door because it kept refusing it. I thought it was because the system had gone haywire, but to my surprise it was actually because the door was already open. Which is weird. No one would ever go into my room. In fact, I don't think anyone was _allowed_!

I stepped inside warily, expecting a burglar.

I found a sandy-haired jerk instead.

"You have _got_ to stop doing that!" I screamed, causing him to fall off the sofa where he lay dozing off. "Really!"

"Mikan," Koko stumbled around and tried to stand up, and then looked at me with baleful eyes. "I'm really sorry about what happened today."

"Oh, and _that_ too! You guys should really stop apologising, it's not like it's going to do anybody any good! I've forgiven both of you before you even asked for apologies!"

His golden eyes sparkled in curiosity. "Both of us?"

"You and Natsume! Who else gets me all riled up like this?"

Koko's face broke into a huge grin. Again, I felt the need to smile with him—which, at the moment, was not a very welcome reaction. "You're not mad at me?"

I tried to maintain my angry composure, but Koko's childish smile broke through, like always. "Well, other than the fact that you rendered my fairy tale notions of a first kiss completely useless, there's nothing much more to be mad about. Now get your smelly socks off my sofa!"

* * *

Sunday evening blew by in a breeze, and as Mondays were Academics days, it breezed past as well. Until fourth period, that is, with Jin-jin's public announcement. As the deputy headmaster of the school, the old man stuck to his procedures as a leech would a blood bag. Okay, maybe not the best analogy, but you get the picture.

"_Announcement: To all students, you are advised to be at your best manner this coming Saturday. The annual GASA Welcome Ball will be held as per usual, with the addition of a few guests from Juilliard's who shall be joining up for the rest of this year's autumn term. Please be reminded that you are all required to be in strictly formal attires during the ball. Non-compliance with these rules shall warrant lunch detention for a week."_

This announcement got me through the week, until I promptly forgot about it on Thursday afternoon, during ConCom. And come Friday, I found myself in afternoon detention with — la-di-dah — Natsume himself.

"Why are you in detention?" He seemed amused, I couldn't tell. The book he held to his face partially covered his expression and I could only see the slight twitch in his mouth. "You're a freshman on your first term. You get into a freak accident on your first week and you land yourself in detention on your third week?"

"Hey, I didn't mean to!" I snatched his book away to get a clearer view of his expression. I was right. He was so amused he was turning tomato red.

"Answer my question then," he said, grabbing the book back. "Why are you in detention?"

I huffed and crossed my arms. "Because I challenged Jin-jin's lecture on pattern and designed harmonies."

He snorted. "Figures." He let the book drop momentarily and asked again, "What exactly did you challenge?"

I recounted yesterday's events, if a little grudgingly.

-;-

"_So, you can see here that if the pattern repeats itself for the next two movements, demonstrating the theory, then it can be easily concluded that the piece has found its required balance."_

_Mikan raised a hand in wonder. "But Sir, wouldn't that contradict your former statement about balance not necessarily being found in repetitive patterns?"_

_Jinno looked on in confusion. "What do you mean, Ms Sakura?"_

"_I mean—" She walked over to the board and erased all the annotations Jinno had made during the discussion, "if we abide by the earlier Theory of the Sixteenth and combine it with the Takashi Rule of Thumb, then this piece could have just as easily been balanced by adding an additional movement here—" She drew a new staff between the two movement Jinno had earlier illustrated, "—and eliminating this second one under the pretence of redundancy."_

_Jinno gave her a look of pure calculation. "Detention, Ms Sakura."_

"_What! Why?"_

"_For challenging tradition and a decades-old theory." He gazed at her through his glasses and went on. "While I may observe that your thoughts are highly radical and impressive on some points, tradition cannot simply be overridden by the innovations that your brain can come up with. True, your version may perhaps be more pragmatic and succinct, and it balances the piece nicely, but such an addition to a painstakingly designed piece would ruin the tone for which the piece has been set."_

_Mikan bristled, indignant. "How would you know what the composer's tone was originally intended for?"_

"_I wrote it," Jinno simply replied. "Of course I would know."_

-;-

"And he just snuffed me out like that, the old geezer!"

Natsume grinned at the end of my story. "He did that to me once. Had the same result. In fact, I've known Imai, Ruka, and Koko to have done the same thing. They all got the same punishments too."

"Gee, what a poor, stuck guy," I mumbled, more to myself than anyone in particular. I rounded on to him and threw his question back at him. "Why are _you_ in detention?"

He shrugged. "I called Narumi a transvestite." A second later he broke out in laughter.

"Why are you laughing?"

He took his time before finally calming down. "Because knowing Naru, he probably only sent me to detention because he's trying to set us up."

I balked. "He _what_?"

Natsume returned to his book, the smile still ghosting over his pink, pink lips. "He likes playing cupid, the old fart. Fat chance, I'd never go out with you anyway."

I reddened as I got what he meant. "WHY YOU ARROGANT—!"

* * *

It was nearly dinner time when we left the detention room; the monitor apparently forgot we were inside. We were supposed to end at three. It was already half-past five. Another good two hours stuck with Natsume; as if evening practices last week weren't enough. And just like all the other times we were left alone, it was a relatively bearable event. Nothing too fancy, nothing too odd. Just okay.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Koko waiting outside the door.

He greeted me first. "Hi, little girl!"

I grimaced. "Oh, shut it, Koko."

He ruffled my hair then turned to Natsume. "Got a minute? We gotta talk about something."

Natsume regarded him for a long, long time, and I felt my significance shrink to that of a quark. He answered a full five seconds later. "Yeah, sure." He faced me and promptly asked, "You'd be fine alone, won't you? Surely you won't bang your head harder this time?"

I stuck a tongue out at him. "I'm a big girl, Hyuuga, stop it."

"Alright then." He and Koko turned the other way as I made for the dormitories, pretty sure I'd be alone this time. I made it to my room alright, needless to say, and I spent three more hours resting until Hotaru knocked on my door and once more rescued me from starvation, this time bringing steak to-go. I smiled upon seeing her and the package she held. Although stoic most of the time, and although she denies far more often than necessary, she always softens up when it comes to skipping or missing meals.

She whacked me in the head with the 'Baka Gun', a toy paddle we got when we were seven, which we never really got over. "You idiot," she said as she whacked me once more in the arm. "I told you to eat properly. You'll die in Narumi's sessions if you don't eat properly."

"Thanks, I love you too, Hotaru," I chirped happily, eyeing the steak hungrily. Before I could eat it in the kitchen, though, Hotaru handed me one more package. It was a small box; it seemed expensive though. The markings on the ribbon gave away the brand name of a couture house.

A dress.

"How did you know I didn't have one yet?" I asked her, no longer needing to delve into the details.

Hotaru gave me one of her most rare and most enigmatic smiles before opting to leave.

"Hey! The only person I ever talked to about it was Natsume! Hotaru! HOTARU!"

* * *

_Heh. I'm getting rusty._

_~Ashy_


End file.
